LOCATION PERU NH+MA ME NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Peru fine sandy loam, on a west-facing slope of 10 percent in a stony forested site with a 1 inch layer of undecomposed leaves and twigs. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bhs--6 to 8 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
Bs1--8 to 12 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bs2--12 to 18 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bs3--18 to 21 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; few fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bs horizon is 3 to 18 inches.)
BC--21 to 24 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) fine sandy loam; weak fine platy structure; firm in place, friable disturbed; few fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) and few coarse distinct brown (10YR 4/3) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Cd--24 to 65 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) sandy loam; moderate medium platy structure; firm and brittle; 10 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation and many medium distinct gray (5Y 6/1) iron depletions; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Grafton County, New Hampshire; Town of Enfield, 2.3 miles northeast of Enfield Center and 0.75 miles east-southeast of the Crystal Lake dam; latitude 43 degrees 36 minutes 26 seconds N., longitude 72 degrees 04 minutes 14 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 12 to 36 inches. Rock fragments are dominantly gravel with some cobbles and a few stones, and range from 5 to 30 percent in the solum and 0 to 30 percent in the substratum. The silt content in the solum and substratum is less than 50 percent, but ranges to 50 percent or more in the upper 10 inches of the solum. Reaction of the soil ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
Some pedons have an 0 horizon that is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 4. It is fibric, hemic or sapric material.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is dominantly loam or fine sandy loam, but includes silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have an E horizon that is neutral or has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is similar to the A horizon.
The Bhs or Bh horizon has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. The Bs horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 8.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture of the Bhs, Bh, Bs and BC horizons is dominantly fine sandy loam or loam, but includes sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
Some pedons have an E' or E horizon below the B horizon. It has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Typically, it is coarser textured than the overlying horizon.
The Cd horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak to strong, thin to thick, platy or is massive. Consistence of the Cd horizon is firm or very firm. Loose or friable segregated sand lenses with a horizontal orientation that are layered within a loamy matrix constitute 0 to 20 percent of the fabric of the till. The lenses are commonly of coarse, medium and fine sand ranging from 1/8 inch to 1 inch in thickness. Some pedons have a friable C horizon up to 8 inches thick with color and texture similar to the underlying Cd horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Skerry and Sunapee series. Skerry soils have segregated sand lenses in the Cd that constitute more than 20 textures of the fabric. Sunapee soils have very friable or friable C horizons. The Conant, Dixfield, Dixmont, Becket, Marlow, and Madawaska series are in related families. Becket and Marlow soils are well drained. Conant soils are fine-loamy. Madawaska soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Dixfield soils are restricted to moderately well drained. Dixmont soils are not underlain by dense till.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Peru soils are nearly level to steep. They are on drumlins and sloping to steep areas of glaciated uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. The soils formed in dense, loamy glacial till of Wisconsin age that is derived mainly from mica schist, granite, and phyllite. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 50 inches, mean annual air temperature ranges from 40 to 47 degrees F., and the frost-free season ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berkshire, Lyman, Marlow, Monadnock, Sunapee, and Tunbridge soils on similar landscapes, and the Pillsbury and Peacham soils in depressions and drainageways. The Berkshire and Monadnock soils do not have redoximorphic features in the spodic horizons and have moderate or moderately rapid permeability throughout. Lyman soils are shallow to bedrock and Tunbridge soils are moderately deep to bedrock. The poorly drained and somewhat poorly drained Pillsbury soils and the very poorly drained Peacham soils do not have spodic horizons. Sunapee soils are underlain by friable till.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow or slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Areas cleared of stones are used mainly for hay and pasture. A few areas are used for cultivated crops. In forested areas, the principal species are balsam fir, red spruce, eastern hemlock, paper and yellow birch, sugar maple, eastern white pine, northern red oak, and white spruce.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 1923.
REMARKS: 1. The classification is updated to coarse-loamy, isotic, frigid Aquic Haplorthods with this revision. 2. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Spodic horizon - the zone from 6 to 18 inches (Bhs and Bs1 and Bs2 horizons).
c. Aquic subgroup feature - redoximorphic features within 30 inches of the mineral soil surface (Bs3, BC and Cd horizons).