LOCATION WINDSOR CT+MA NH NY RI VT
Established Series
Rev. MFF-SMF-DCP
03/2014
WINDSOR SERIES
The Windsor series consists of very deep, excessively drained soils formed in sandy outwash or eolian deposits. They are nearly level through very steep soils on glaciofluvial landforms. Slope ranges from 0 through 60 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high. Mean annual temperature is about 10 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is about 1092 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Windsor loamy sand - forested, 3 percent slope, at an elevation of about 24 meters. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe--0 to 3 cm; black (10YR 2/1) moderately decomposed forest plant material; many very fine and fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 cm thick.)
A--3 to 8 cm; 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. (3 to 25 cm thick.)
Bw1--8 to 23 cm; 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--23 to 53 cm; 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--53 to 64 cm; 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 23 to 86 cm.)
C--64 to 165 cm; 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, CT topographic quadrangle, Latitude 41 degrees, 48 minutes, 35 seconds N., Longitude 72 degrees, 36 minutes, 22 seconds W., NAD 1983
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 25 to 92 cm. Rock fragments, dominantly fine gravel, range from 0 through 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 extremely 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.
O horizons are present in some pedons.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. Many 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, loamy sand, fine sand, or sand. It has weak or moderate granular structure and is very friable, friable, or loose.
Some pedons have a thin E horizon with hue 7.5YR or 10YR, 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 ma**ive 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, coarse sand, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand. The horizon is ma**ive 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, Ronda, Samoa, Sardak, Sarpy, Scotah, Spessard, Suncook, Tyner, and Wapanucket series. Aquango, Aldo, Biltmore, Boplain, Chute, Dabney, Hodge, Osolo, Pahuk, Perks, Ronda, Samoa, 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 human transported soil material from dredging activities. Biltmore and Spessard soils are well drained. Breeze soils formed in human transported 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 152 cm of precipitation annually. Oakville soils typically average 50 percent or more fine sand in the subsoil. Osolo soils have a solum thicker than 1.5 m. Penwood soils have hue of 5YR or redder in the B horizon. Pahuk, Perks, Samoa, 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 with in 1 m. Ronda soils formed in alluvium from residuum sources. Sardak soils formed in alluvium and are calcareous. Tyner soils have a thicker solum. Wapanucket soils are underlain by glaciolacustrine deposits with in the series control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Windsor soils are nearly level through very steep soils typically on glaciofluvial landforms but include late-Wisconsin-aged dunes. The steeper slopes are typically on terrace escarpments. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in outwash or eolian deposits of poorly graded sands and loamy sands derived mainly from crystalline rocks. Mean annual temperature ranges from 7 to 12 degrees C, and the mean annual precipitation typically ranges from 965 to 1270 mm, but the range includes as low as 660 mm 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 a**ociates. Agawam and Haven soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal or coarse-loamy terrace a**ociates, respectively. Hadley, Occum, Pootatuck, and Winooski soils are on nearby flood plains.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: 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 northern red oak, eastern white pine, pitch pine, gray birch, poplar, red maple, and sugar maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Late Wisconsin glaciofluvial or eolian landforms in Connecticut, Ma**achusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont; MLRAs 101, 142, 144A, and 145. The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Ma**achusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Connecticut Valley Area, 1899.
REMARKS: The use of the Windsor series in Maine, and in MLRAs 141, 144B, and 143 is relict to before temperature cla**es in soil taxoonomy. These have been removed from the SC file.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 cm (Oe and A horizons).
2. Particle-size cla** - averages sandy in the control section from 25 to 100 cm.
3. No cambic horizon and development of color - the zone from 8 to 64 cm demonstrates development of color with no illuvial accumulation of material (Bw horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples from pedons 54MA023005, 63VT011001, 63VT011002, 64NH017003, 64NH017004, 70CT003003, 70MA011003, 70VT017002, 73MA005003, 73MA005004, 91MA023006, 95NH013001, 96NH013004, 98NY045002, 98NY085002, S07VT011004.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.