LOCATION TELOS MEEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Telos silt loam, on a 4 percent north-facing slope in a very stony forested area, at an elevation of about 1640 feet. (Colors are for moist soi
Oa--0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) highly decomposed organic material; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick).
E--2 to 4 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; 5 percent gravel; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick).
Bhs--4 to 7 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; 5 percent gravel; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick).
Bs1--7 to 12 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; 5 percent gravel; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs2--12 to 15 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine roots; few very fine vesicular pores; common medium distinct pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; 10 percent gravel; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 4 to 12 inches.)
BC--15 to 20 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) silt loam; weak thin platy structure; friable; few very fine and fine roots; many medium prominent pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) iron depletions; 10 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick).
Cd--20 to 65 inches; olive (5Y 5/3) gravelly silt loam; firm; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) faces of prisms; many medium and common fine distint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent gravel; strong very coarse prisms parting to weak medium plates; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Maine; Town of Rangeley; 0.7 mile east of Round Pond on a gravel road and 150 feet south of road; USGS Rangeley topographic quadrangle; lat. 44 degrees 59 minutes 45 seconds N. and long. 70 degrees 42 minutes 05 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 13 to 22 inches. The thickness of the mineral soil over the dense till ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Texture of the fine-earth fraction in the solum is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam and fine sandy loam. The weighted average of clay in the particle-size control section is 10 to 18 percent. Texture in the Cd layer is silt loam and loam in the fine-earth fraction. Rock fragment content ranges from 5 to 35 percent in the E or A horizons, where present, and from 5 to 25 percent in the underlying material. Rock fragments are mainly channers and pebbles except for cobbles in the A and E horizons in some pedons. Stones and boulders cover from 0 to 25 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the solum and from strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum.
The Oa horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 3 and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine, fine or medium granular structure.
Some areas have an Ap horizon with hue of 10YR and value and chroma of 3 or 4. It has weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular structure.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 5 to 7 and chroma of 1 or 2. It has weak or moderate, very fine or fine granular structure or weak very thin platy. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bhs horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, with value and chroma of 2.5 or 3. The Bh horizon, where present, has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 5 and chroma of 2 to 6.
The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 4 to 8. They have weak or moderate, very fine to medium granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or friable. Some pedons have been described with platy structure in the lower part.
The BC horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 3 or 4. It has weak thin to thick platy structure or it has moderate or strong, very coarse prismatic parting to weak or moderate, thin to thick platy or fine subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or firm.
Some pedons ahave an E' horizon with hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2. It has weak thin to thick platy or strong very coarse prismatic structure parting to platy. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Cd layer has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 1 to 4. It has strong very coarse prisms which may part to weak to strong, thin to very thick plates or to moderate or strong, fine to coarse angular blocks, or the layer is massive. Arrangement of soil particles into aggregates is considered to be inherited from the parent material. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: Colonel and Daigle are the only other series in the same family. Clay content in the particle-size control section in Colonel soils is less than 10 percent and in the Daigle soils from 18 up to 27 percent. Chesuncook, Dixfield, Dixmont, Howland, Peru, Skerry, and Sunapee series are in related families. Dixfield, Dixmont, Howland, Peru, Skerry, and Sunapee soils have less than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Chesuncook soils are moderately deep to dense till, moderately well drained and do not have redox depletions within 16 inches from the mineral soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Telos soils are on upland till plains, hills and ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The soils formed in dense glacial till derived mainly from slate and other dark colored sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 44 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 46 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 130 days. Elevation ranges from 300 to 2500 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Burnham, Chesuncook, Elliottsville, Monarda, Monson and Thorndike soils. The Burnham and Monarda soils occur in lower positions on the landscape and are wetter. Chesuncook soils are better drained and are in higher positions on the landscape. Elliottsville, Monson and Thorndike soils are shallower to bedrock and occur in higher positions on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Estimated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the minerl solum and low to moderately high in the substratum. Permeability is moderate in the mineral solum and slow or very slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forest. Common tree species include red spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, yellow birch, paper birch and red maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soil survey of Franklin County Area and Part of Somerset County, Maine Soil Survey, 1992.
REMARKS: Series classification was revised 11/05 from coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to loamy, isotic, frigid, shallow Aquic Haplorthods to reflect shallow characteristic. Competing series section revised 5/06 to reflect classification.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Albic horizon - the zone from 2 to 4 inches (E horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 4 to 12 inches. (Bhs and Bs1 horizons)
c. Densic materials - firm, dense lodgement till at a depth of 20 inches.
d. Aquic conditions-redoximorphic features at 10 inches below the mineral soil surface.
Additional Data: Source of data used in establishing taxonomic class and range in characteristics is Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 155, 1994; NRCS Characterization Data; and composite data from the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems compiled by Dr. Paul R. Hepler, of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.
Soil Interpretation record numbers for the Telos series are: Telos, ME0072; Telos, rubbly, ME0137; and Telos, stony, ME0068.