LOCATION WINDSOR CT +MA NH NY RI VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Windsor loamy sand - forested, 3 percent slope, at an elevation of about 262 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 1 inch; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed forest plant material; many very fine and fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
A--1 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loamy sand; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--3 to 9 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) loamy sand; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--9 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loamy sand; very weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw3--21 to 25 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) sand; single grain; loose; few coarse roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 9 to 34 inches.)
C--25 to 65 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sand; single grain; loose; few coarse roots; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hartford County, Connecticut; town of South Windsor, 1100 feet northwest along Chapel Road from the intersection of Chapel Road and Ellington Road and 100 feet due south of Chapel Road; USGS Manchester topographic quadrangle; latitude 41 degrees 48 minutes 35 seconds North, longitude 72 degrees 36 minutes 24 seconds West., NAD 27
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 10 to 36 inches. Rock fragments, dominantly fine gravel, range from 0 to 10 percent by volume in the solum and from 0 to 15 percent in the substratum. Thin strata of gravel or thin subhorizons of coarse sand or loamy coarse sand are present in some pedons.
Unless limed, reaction in the solum commonly is very strongly acid to moderately acid but the range includes slightly acid. Unless limed, reaction in the substratum commonly is very strongly acid to slightly acid but the range includes neutral.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. Disturbed pedons have an Ap horizon up to 12 inches thick with value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 to 4. The A or Ap horizon is loamy fine sand or loamy sand. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is very friable, friable, or loose.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon with value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 1 or 2.
The upper part of the Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. The lower part of Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7 and chroma of 3 to 6. The Bw horizon is loamy sand or loamy fine sand in the upper part and loamy fine sand, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand in the lower part. The Bw horizon has weak granular or weak subangular blocky structure, or it is massive or single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose.
Some pedons have a BC horizon similar to the lower part of the Bw horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. It is fine sand, sand, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand. The horizon is massive or single grain and consistence is very friable or loose.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Acquango, Aldo, Bigapple, Biltmore, Boplain, Breeze, Caesar, Chute, Dabney, Hodge, Oakville, Osolo, Pahuk, Penwood, Perks, Pinegrove, Plainfield, Poquonock, Sardak, Sarpy, Scotah, Spessard, Suncook, and Tyner series. Aquango, Aldo, Biltmore, Boplain, Chute, Dabney, Hodge, Osolo, Pahuk, Perks, Sardak, Spessard, and Tyner soils are from outside of LRRs L, R, and S.
Acquango soils are very slightly to moderately saline within the soil profile. Aldo soils have a water table and saturation within the series control section for as much as one month per year in 6 out of 10 years. Bigapple soils formed in anthrotransported soil material from dredging activities. Biltmore and Spessard soils are well drained. Breeze soils formed in anthropotransported sandy soil materials intermingled with construction debris. Caesar soils contain more coarse sand. Chute, Hodge, and Sarpy soils contain free carbonates and do not have a B horizon. Dabney soils do not have a B horizon and receive more than 60 inches of precipitation annually. Oakville soils typically average 50 percent or more fine sand in the subsoil. Osolo soils have a solum thicker than 60 inches. Penwood soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B horizon. Pahuk, Perks and Suncook soils do not have a B horizon. Plainfield soils are less moist in all parts of the control section for the 120 days following the summer solstice. Poquonock soils have a densic contact at 28 inches. Sardak soils formed in alluvium and are calcareous. Tyner soils have a thicker solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Windsor soils are nearly level to very steep soils on glaciofluvial landforms. The steeper slopes are typically on terrace escarpments. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in glacial outwash deposits of poorly graded sands and loamy sands derived mainly from crystalline rocks. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 54 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation typically ranges from 38 to 50 inches but the range includes as low as 26 inches in some places east of Adirondack Mountains in the Champlain Valley of New York. The growing season ranges from 120 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Deerfield,
Hinckley,
Merrimac,
Quonset,
Suncook,
Agawam,
Hadley,
Haven,
Occum,
Pootatuck,
Scarboro,
Sudbury,
Walpole,
Wareham, and
Winooski soils on nearby landscapes. The moderately well
drained Deerfield and Sudbury, the somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained Walpole and Wareham, and the very poorly drained Scarboro soils are common drainage associates. Agawam and Haven soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal or coarse-loamy terrace associates, respectively. Hadley, Occum, Pootatuck, and Winooski soils are on nearby flood plains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained. Surface runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are forested or in low growing brushy vegetation. Some areas are used for silage corn, hay, and pasture. Small areas, mostly irrigated, are used for shade tobacco, vegetables and nursery stock. Some areas are in community development. Common trees are white, black, and red oak, white pine, pitch pine, gray birch, poplar, red maple, and sugar maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Late Wisconsin glaciofluvial landforms in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont; MLRAs 144A and 145. The series is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Connecticut Valley Area, 1899.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 3 inches (Oe and A horizons).
2. Particle-size class - averages sandy in the control section from 10 to 40 inches.
3. Development of color - the zone from 3 to 25 inches demonstrates development of color with no illuvial accumulation of material (Bw horizons).