Soil Map Unit Description from the RI Soil Survey Report

Co—Carlisle muck.

Link to Official Soil Series Description for Carlisle Soils

Webmaster Update Note: Carlisle soils are no longer mapped in the Northeast Region, Freetown soils are now mapped for areas of deep (> 51 inches) organic soils over glacial fluvial deposits.

This nearly level, very poorly drained soil is in depressions of outwash plains and glacial upland till plains. Areas are irregular in shape and mostly range from 5 to 100 acres. Slopes are less than 2 percent.

Typically this soil has a surface layer of black and dark reddish brown muck 55 inches thick. The substratum is gray loamy sand to a depth of 60 inches or more.

Included with this soil in mapping are small areas of poorly drained Walpole and Leicester soils and very poorly drained Adrian, Scarboro, and Whitman soils. Included areas make up about 10 percent of this unit.

The permeability of this soil is moderately slow through moderately rapid. Available water capacity is high, and runoff is very slow. The soil has a seasonal high water table at or near the surface during most of the year. The soil is subject to ponding, and a few areas adjacent to streams are frequently flooded. This soil is medium acid through neutral.

This soil is poorly suited for community development. The high water table and the low strength of the surface layer are the main limitations. The use of onsite septic systems is not feasible in this soil. When the soil is drained, the surface layer shrinks and subsides.

This soil is poorly suited to trees, but it is better suited to woodland than to most other uses, and most of the areas are wooded or in grassy bogs. The high water table restricts the root depth of trees, and they are subject to being blown over by strong winds. Seedlings are difficult to establish.

Wetness makes this soil poorly suited to cultivated crops. Suitable drainage outlets are not available in most places. If this soil is drained, care is needed to prevent excessive subsidence of the surface layer.

This soil is suitable for wetland wildlife habitat, but wetness makes the soil poorly suited to woodland wild life habitat or openland wildlife habitat. Capability sub class VIw; woodland group 4w.

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