Soil Site Reporter

Soil Associations

0713c FFOREST



Soil and site characteristics
Slowly permeable seasonally waterlogged reddish fine silty and fine loamy soils, some with a peaty surface horizon.

Geology
Drift from reddish sandstone and siltstone
Cropping and Land Use
Stock rearing and dairying on grassland and rough grazing; some coniferous woodland.

Component soil series

Subgroup Series name Percentage WRB 2006 link
7.13 FFOREST 75% Chromic Eutric Albic Stagnosols
7.21 WENALLT 10% Chromic Dystric Histic Stagnosols
5.42 LLANGENDEIRNE 10% Eutric Endostagnic Cambisols
Covers 110 km2 in England and Wales

Soilscapes Classification
17
Slowly permeable seasonally wet acid loamy and clayey soils

Alert ! - slowly permeable soils with seasonal wetness read the alert

0713c FFOREST

Detailed Description

This association consists predominantly of fine silty cambic stagnogley soils belonging to the Fforest series in reddish drift. It is found on gentle to moderate slopes, commonly footslopes and valley floors in areas of red sedimentary rocks.This passes to a dense, strongly mottled horizon with prismatic structures which merges with compact, little altered drift within 1 m depth. Similar fine loamy soils of the Hollacombe seriesoccur in places. On the wettest sites, usually boggy depressions, there are soils with humose or peaty tops over strongly gleyed slowly permeable subsoil and these are catnbic stagnohumic gley soils belonging to Wenallt series. Some well drained fine loamy typical brown earths of the Newbiggin series occur on strong slopes and convexities while stagnogleyic brown earths, Llangendeirne series, with a little gley mottling in their subsoils grade in their drainage characteristics towards the Fforest soils. There is more clay and silt in Fforest and Wenallt soils than in the drier Newbiggin and Llangendeirne soils because the rock fragments break down most completely where waterlogging is prolonged. Stoniness increases with depth in all these soils, but most are only slightly stony in the upper 40 cm, medium sized sandstones being most common. The association occupies patches of drift mainly over the Old Red Sandstone outcrop in Dyfed and Powys below 300 m O.D. It is most extensive in south-east Dyfed where rainfall of more than 1,500 mm annually and altitudes over 180 m O.D. cause the Wenallt series to be the commonest associate soil. North of Ammanford reddish till has been spread over Carboniferous rocks by ice moving southwards into the Loughor valley and contamination of the till by Carboniferous sandstone has resulted in a larger proportion of the Hollacombe series than elsewhere. In the drier and lower parts of south-west Dyfed Llangendeirne and Newbiggin series are the only associates. The association includes a small area near Colwyn Bay of soils in reddish drift from Carboniferous basement rocks which were mapped by Ball (1960) as the Morfydd series. On Anglesey some soils previously identified as the Frogmoor series now form part of the association.

In the main area a sequence of soils can be discerned (Eldridge 1980). The Felthorpe series and small areas of Gresham soils occur on slopes where the underlying loamy till is nearest the surface. Lakenheath and Ollerton soils occur mainly on higher, relatively level ground where Newport and Redlodge soils are also found. 011erton soils occur too on the lower slopes of the valleys together with Blackwood soils. Near Roydon in west Norfolk the drift in which the soils are formed is underlain by Sandringham Sands and till. In this area, mapped with the association for convenience, there are no Felthorpe soils. Here Blackwood and Lakenheath soils occur on the lowest ground with Redlodge soils on the hillocks.


Soil Water Regime

Fforest subsoils are slowly permeable and often contain a fragipan which, with the gentle relief, slows water movement so that the soils are waterlogged for much of the year (Wetness Classes IV to V) and excess winter rains run rapidly to the water courses. The subsurface is gleyed, pale grey and iron-depleted.

Cropping and Land Use

Most of the association is under permanent grassland some of which is rush-infested, and undrained soils are very easily poached. Underdrainage using permeable backfill followed by subsoiling or moling every four years facilitates pasture improvement but continued care is needed as there is still some risk of poaching even after drainage. Liver fluke is a hazard to stock on undrained Fforest soils. Arable cultivation is largely restricted to forage crops. Reserves of available water are usually adequate to ensure that Fforest soils are non-droughty in most years, although crops may be checked by drought where topsoils have become compacted and rooting is restricted. Small areas of the association are used for forestry, Sitka spruce being the preferred species. The sites are drained with open ditches and ploughed deeply to encourage root penetration and so reduce the risk of early windthrow.

0713c FFOREST

Distribution Map

Note that the yellow shading represents a buffer to highlight the location of very small areas of the association.

Keys to component soil series

Wales

Typical Landscapes

Wales

All information Copyright, Cranfield University © 2024

Citation: To use information from this web resource in your work, please cite this as follows:
Cranfield University 2024. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 29/03/2024




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