ALL PITS COMBINED
October 7. 2015
Description of Soil Pit on Huntington River Terrace #1
Jordan Duffy, Mark Hemley, Emma Marsters
Terrace 1 is the youngest soil pit. We dug in a forested with sand dominated soil. There were no large clasts or bedrock present
anywhere in the dig. Horizon B contained more clay than others although it was still sandy. Horizon C was pure beach sand.
0 cm
1.5 cm
8.5 cm
O
A
O Horizon (1.5 cm): Dark brown with pine needles, leaves, and forest litter.
A Horizon (7cm): Moist, cohesive, coarse grained, dark brown soil.
B Horizon (40cm): Cohesive, very fine grained light brown sandy clay soil.
B
48.5cm
C Horizon (40cm): Loose, non-cohesive, light tan, coarser grained sand.
C
88.5cm
Gravel
100 cm
Gravel: Smooth river gravel and pebbles mixed with soil from C Horizon.
Pit #1
Description of Soil Pit on Huntington River Terrace #2
Will, Jake, Amy, Ingrid
0 cm
1 cm
O
O Horizon (0-1 cm): Root filled, duff layer-humus
A-P Horizon (1-26 cm): Plowed horizon, dependent on plow depth
Clay to fine sand sized with few rounded
pebbles/cobbles
Well sorted with ~5% pebbles/cobbles
Dark brown-3/2 on 7.5YR
Bioturbation/Root Cast into B
A-P
One root cast/burrow from A-P into B horizons. Sharp contact
with B horizon soil.
26 cm
B
41 cm
C
B Horizon (26-40 cm): Redder- 3/4 on 7.5YR
Silt to coarse sand sediment
Pebble to matrix ratio increased with depth~1020%
Moderately poor sorting
Bioturbation into B
Pockets of leaching from intensely weathered
parent
C Horizon (40-41 cm): Parent material-rounded pebbles-well sorted
Pit #2
Jake Zanoni
Description of Soil Pit on Huntington River Terrace #3
O
Names: Jack, Steve, Ross
0 cm
A
A Horizon (1 – 22 cm): Code colors: ¾ , 3/3 , 3/4 darker, rich, brown plow till.
Some organics scattered within. Silty-sand soil.
B1
B1 Horizon 22 – 51 cm): Code colors: 4/2 , 4/6 , 5/4 tan brown silty-sand soil
with no organics. Wet and compacted.
B2 C
B2 Horizon (51 – 66 cm): Code colors: 4/3 , ¾ , 4/4 same grain size as B1 but
has a redder (oxidized) hue. Diffused layer. Still wet and compacted.
25 cm
50 cm
Groundwater Line (67 – 68 cm): redder vein located within C horizon
75 cm
100 cm
C1
C Horizon (66 – 75.5 cm): Medium-fine sand. Pebbles scattered throughout,
smooth and somewhat sorted.
C2
C Horizon (75.5 cm and further): Gravel layer. Comprised of rounded yet
unsorted rocks surrounded by coarse sand.
Pit #3
Description of Soil Pit on Huntington River Terrace #4
Names: Talon Drown, Emma Estabrook, Laura Tracy
0 cm
15 cm
O
O: Color: 7.5 YR 3/1- blackish/dark brown.
Chunks of organic matter, coarse sand material with leaf and branch litter.
A
A: Color: 7.5YR ¾- a lighter chocolaty brown.
Less chunks of organic matter. The sand is finer than in the O horizon.
E
E: Color: 7.5YR 6/1- a gray/white
Very fine grains, sandy loam. Discontinuous. Very noticeable color change.
B
B: Largest horizon (40 cm deep). Gradual color change around 45 cm.
Fine grain material that was very clay rich. The color of B(1) was 7.5
YR 4/6 rusty-burnt orange and the color of B(2) was 10YR 4/4- a light
tan color
25 cm
31 cm
Soil Pit Observations
B (1)
45 cm
C
B (2)
70 cm
Highest terrace in a heavily forested area. No bedrock or grass. Fairly
loose soil. The grain size got finer with depth. There were roots and
bioturbation present. All the transitions between layers were sharp
except in the B horizon where the color change was gradual.
Photo of Pit #4