LOCATION WARWICK MA+NH VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Warwick channery fine sandy loam - hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery fine sandy loam, light gray (10YR 6/1) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many grass roots; 25 percent subrounded slate fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many grass roots; 30 percent subrounded slate fragments and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
Bw2--14 to 23 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very channery fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common grass roots; 35 percent subrounded slate fragments and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
2C1--23 to 36 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) extremely channery loamy sand; single grain; loose; common grass roots; 65 percent subrounded slate fragments and 2 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
2C2--36 to 65 inches; variegated black (5Y 2/1) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) stratified sand and slate or phyllite fragments; single grain; loose; very few grass roots in upper 6 inches; 65 percent rock fragments mostly less than 3 inches in size including 2 percent granitic gravel and cobbles; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Massachusetts; town of Gill, Ben Hale Road, 1 1/2 miles northwest of village of Gill. USGS Bernardston quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees 39 minutes 35 seconds N. and longitude 72 degrees 30 minutes 53 seconds W.; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 30 inches. The A horizon contains 5 to 25 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches in size and 0 to 10 percent from 3 to 10 inches in size. The B horizon has 15 to 50 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches in size and 0 to 10 percent are 3 to 10 inches in size. The C horizon has 35 to 60 percent rock fragments less than 3 inches and 5 to 15 percent 3 to 10 inches in size. Dark flat phyllite, shale, or slate constitutes 50 to 75 percent of the rock fragments and about 10 to 50 percent of the sand and silt fraction. The soil ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid in the solum where not limed, and from very strongly acid through slightly acid in the substratum. The solum has weak granular or subangular blocky structure and is friable or very friable.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. An A horizon, 1 to 4 inches thick, is in unplowed areas. It has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. The A or Ap horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR in the upper part and 10YR or 2.5Y in the lower part, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 8 with chroma of 8 restricted to the upper part. The Bw horizon is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have a BC horizon up to 5 inches thick. It is sandy loam or loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction and ranges from about 30 to 60 percent rock fragments.
The 2C horizon is stratified loamy sand, sand, or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no soil series currently in the same family.
Soils in related families include the Berks, Blasdell, Brownsville, Calvin, Cardiff, Chamate, Chenango, Greenlee, Highsplint, Lippit, Manlius, Northcove, Oquaga, Parker, Peaks, Remote, Sylco, Tunkhannock, Watt, and Wyoming. Berks, Blasdell, Brownsville, and Cardiff soils have B horizon textures of silt loam or loam. Calvin, Manlius, Oquaga, Peaks, Sylco, and Watt soils have bedrock within 20 to 40 inches. Chamate soils formed in colluvium derived from tuff with the particle-size control section dominated by gravel and cobbles. Chenango soils formed in water sorted material derived from derived from gray sandstone, shale, and siltstone and lesser amount of material from limestone and igneous rocks. Greenlee soils formed in colluvium derived from granite, gneiss, and schist, and contain rock fragments of such material. Highsplint soils formed in colluvium on mountain slopes from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Northcove soils formed in colluvial material weathered from metasedimentary rocks such as quartzite, phyllite, slate, metagraywacke, and metasandstone. Lippit soils have a paralithic contact within 20 to 40 inches. Parker soils formed in residuum and have angular rock fragments. Remote soils formed in colluvium and residuum derived from sandstone and rock fragments are sandstone. Tunkhannock soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B and C horizons. Wyoming soils have gray sandstone, shale, and siltstone rock fragments.
The Copake, Hartford, Hoosic, Hinckley, Manchester, Merrimac, and Quonset series are also in related families. All of these soils have dominant textures of loamy sand or sand between a depth of 10 and 40 inches. In addition, Copake soils have slightly acid or neutral reaction between a depth of 10 to 30 inches; Hartford and Manchester soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B and C horizons; and Merrimac soils have rock fragments dominated by granite, gneiss, and schist.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Warwick soils are nearly level to steep soils on terraces, outwash plains, and deltas. Slope commonly is 1 to 8 percent but ranges from 0 to 45 percent. The soils formed in stratified glaciofluvial deposits derived principally from dark, fine-grained rock fragments of phyllite, slate, or shale. The climate is humid and temperate with a mean annual temperature of 45 to 50 degrees F. and a mean annual precipitation of 40 to 50 inches. Length of the growing season ranges from about 140 to 195 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Quonset, Bernardston, Dutchess, Nassau, Newport, and Pittstown soils. All but Quonset formed in glacial till. Bernardston, Newport, and Pittstown soils have dense till substrata. Dutchess soils have a loam, silt loam, or fine sandy loam C horizon within 40 inches of the soil surface. Nassau soils have bedrock within 20 inches of the surface. Quonset soils have dominant textures of loamy sand or sand between a depth of 10 and 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is slow or medium depending on slope gradient. Internal drainage is rapid, and permeability is moderately rapid in the solum and very rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and are used for the production of hay, pasture, oats, silage corn, and to a smaller extent, truck crops. The common forest trees are white pine, gray birch, hemlock, red maple, and upland oaks and in the northern range of the series, yellow birch, sugar maple, and beech.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRAs 144A, 144B, and 145 in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The series is of moderate extent, estimated 20,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kent and Washington Counties, Rhode Island, 1934.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 23 inches (Bw horizon).
3. Loamy-skeletal feature - the weighted average volume of fragments larger than 2 mm in size averages 51 percent in the texture control section.
4. Cation-exchange activity class is active based upon available laboratory data.