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41-488: In USDA soil taxonomy , andisols are soils formed in volcanic ash and defined as soils containing high proportions of glass and amorphous colloidal materials, including allophane , imogolite and ferrihydrite . In the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), andisols are known as Andosols . Because they are generally quite young, andisols typically are very fertile except in cases where phosphorus

82-437: A 2002 statewide water assessment stated that elevated counts of E. coli and fecal coliform contributed to the river's largest cause of water quality violations. By the 2000s, the largest pollution concern was combined sewer overflow . Wildlife has been impacted through the contamination of shellfishing beds as well as habitat contamination, and aquatic life has been affected due to excess lead , zinc , and other metals in

123-668: A double flood of rain and melting snow and ice swelled the Merrimack at Lowell to 68.4 feet (20.8 m), 10 feet (3 m) higher than the 2006 flood. Part of the Jack Kerouac book Doctor Sax is set during this event. In addition to the 1936 flood, the 1852 flood, and the Mother's Day Flood of 2006, the New England Hurricane of 1938 and floods in October 1996 and April 2007 round out

164-482: A foot of rain with some areas receiving as much as 17 inches (43 cm). According to The Boston Globe , around 1,500 people evacuated their homes to escape the flood. This flood also prompted the Massachusetts city of Lowell to install a modern (albeit temporary) flood control gate comprising square steel beams at the site of the historic Francis Gate , a 19th and 20th-century wooden flood gate. When lowered,

205-637: A permit allowing landfill water to be dumped into the Merrimack River. Politicians are also seeking increased federal funding to update water infrastructure for the Merrimack River, as the river's current sewer infrastructure has resulted in the dumping of over 100,000 gallons of untreated water into the river. The Merrimack is listed as one of the Navigable Waters of the United States, subject to Section 10, Rivers and Harbors Act Jurisdiction. While

246-443: A result of the pollution from textile mills and other human-related waste. In the 1960s, the Merrimack River was one of the ten most polluted waterways in the United States due to years of unmediated dumping of raw sewage , paper and textile mill discharge, and tannery sludge. Phthalates , a group of chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics and detrimental to human bodily systems, were identified in high concentrations within

287-559: Is an important regional focus in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The central-southern part of New Hampshire and most of northeast Massachusetts is known as the Merrimack Valley . Several U.S. naval ships have been named USS  Merrimack and USS Merrimac in honor of this river. The river is also known for the early American literary classic A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau . The etymology of

328-544: Is easily fixed (this sometimes occurs in the tropics). They can usually support intensive cropping, with areas used for wet rice in Java supporting some of the densest populations in the world. Other andisol areas support crops of fruit , maize , tea , coffee or tobacco . In the Pacific Northwest US, andisols support very productive forests . Andisols occupy about 1% of the global ice-free land area. Most occur around

369-578: Is located along the river's banks in New Hampshire. On the Merrimack River's banks are a number of cities built to take advantage of water power in the 19th century, when textile mills dominated the New England economy: Concord , Manchester , and Nashua in New Hampshire, and Lowell , Lawrence , and Haverhill in Massachusetts. At the mouth of the river is the small city of Newburyport . Prior to

410-736: The Mesoproterozoic 1.5 billion years ago. USDA soil taxonomy A taxonomy is an arrangement in a systematic manner; the USDA soil taxonomy has six levels of classification. They are, from most general to specific: order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family and series. Soil properties that can be measured quantitatively are used in this classification system – they include: depth, moisture, temperature, texture, structure, cation exchange capacity, base saturation, clay mineralogy, organic matter content and salt content. There are 12 soil orders (the top hierarchical level) in soil taxonomy. The names of

451-580: The Pacific Ring of Fire , with the largest areas found in central Chile , Ecuador , Colombia , Mexico , the Pacific Northwest US , Japan , Java and New Zealand 's North Island . Other areas occur in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya , Italy , Iceland and Hawaiʻi . Fossil andisols are known from areas far from present-day volcanic activity and have in some cases been dated as far back as

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492-668: The confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire , flows southward into Massachusetts , and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport . From Pawtucket Falls in Lowell, Massachusetts , onward, the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border is roughly calculated as the line three miles north of the river. The Merrimack

533-715: The Concord and Merrimack Rivers , Henry David Thoreau implies that "its name signifies the Sturgeon River." Walker goes on to cite spellings of "Merimacke", "Merimack" and "Merrimacke" in "the colonial records of Massachusetts", as well as the "Merrimake" and "Merrymake" of a 1721 land grant at Penacook, New Hampshire . William Wood's New England's Prospect of 1634 calls the river the "Merrimacke" and locates it eight miles beyond Agowamme ( Ipswich, Massachusetts ). It hosts, he says, "Sturgeon, Sammon and Basse, and divers other kinds of fish." Merrimac, Massachusetts , settled in 1638 and originally part of Amesbury, Massachusetts ,

574-501: The Francis gate seals the city's canal system off from its source on the Merrimack. The Great Gate, as it is also called, was built in 1850 under the direction of James B. Francis . Considered unnecessary when it was first constructed, "Francis' Folly" first saved the city in 1852 and subsequently in 1936. The most significant flood in the recorded history of the Merrimack was in March 1936, when

615-464: The Gulf of Maine between the city of Newburyport and the town of Salisbury . In addition to the Merrimack River mainstem, there are dozens of sub-basins in New Hampshire and Massachusetts making up the watershed. The U.S. Geological Survey categorizes them into six fourth-level sub-basins using hydrological codes with the prefix 0107. The following are some of the other significant rivers found within

656-431: The Merrimack River is prone to minor flooding , on May 15, 2006, rainfall raised the river more than 8 feet (2.4 m) above flood stage, forcing evacuations, damaging property, and breaking the main sewage pipeline in the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts , dumping 35 × 10 US gallons (1.3 × 10  L) of raw sewage waste into the river per day. Reports of total rainfall vary, but most areas appear to have received around

697-433: The Merrimack River. Currently, there are six sanitary sewer systems from which untreated sewage flows directly into the Merrimack River due to infrastructure issues within the sewage system. Recent research has identified mercury contamination as a significant threat to fish and aquatic life in the Merrimack River. This research analyzes how biological mercury hotspots and watershed transport of mercury might contribute to

738-436: The United States. A soil family category is a group of soils within a subgroup and describes the physical and chemical properties which affect the response of soil to agricultural management and engineering applications. The principal characteristics used to differentiate soil families include texture, mineralogy, pH, permeability, structure, consistency, the locale's precipitation pattern, and soil temperature. For some soils

779-406: The United States. Horizons marked by clay, iron, humus and hard pans and soil features such as the expansion-contraction of clays (that produce self-mixing provided by clay), temperature, and marked quantities of various salts are used as distinguishing features. The great group categories are divided into three kinds of soil subgroups : typic, intergrade and extragrade. A typic subgroup represents

820-440: The United States. This permits very specific descriptions of soils. A soil phase of series , originally called 'soil type' describes the soil surface texture, slope, stoniness, saltiness, erosion, and other conditions. Name of soil orders in soil taxonomy with their major characteristics: Order: Entisols Order: Alfisols Soil temperature regimes, such as frigid, mesic, and thermic, are used to classify soils at some of

861-546: The Winnepisseogee at the source, Lake Winnipesaukee . According to Joseph B. Walker, relying on Chandler Eastman Potter's The History of Manchester (1856), Merremack contains the elements merruh ("strong") and auke ("place"—a recognizable locative ending), and means "the place of strong current,- a term not inappropriate, when we consider ... the river's rapids ...." Potter was an authority on Native American affairs in colonial New England. By contrast, in A Week on

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902-442: The above at any time during their development. The soil suborders within an order are differentiated on the basis of soil properties and horizons which depend on soil moisture and temperature. Forty-seven suborders are recognized in the United States. The soil great group category is a subdivision of a suborder in which the kind and sequence of soil horizons distinguish one soil from another. About 185 great groups are recognized in

943-435: The amounts of soil water available to plants during a given year in a particular region. Several moisture regime classes are used to characterize soils. These categories are terminology modifiers at the soil suborder level of characterization. Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River , an occasional earlier spelling ) is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river in the northeastern United States. It rises at

984-574: The basic or 'typical' concept of the great group to which the described subgroup belongs. An intergrade subgroup describes the properties that suggest how it grades towards (is similar to) soils of other soil great groups, suborders or orders. These properties are not developed or expressed well enough to cause the soil to be included within the great group towards which they grade, but suggest similarities. Extragrade features are aberrant properties which prevent that soil from being included in another soil classification. About 1,000 soil subgroups are defined in

1025-422: The confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers. From there, the river flows south through Concord, Manchester, and Nashua, entering Massachusetts at the town of Tyngsborough , where it turns northeast and winds past or through Chelmsford , Lowell, Dracut , Tewksbury , Andover , Methuen , Lawrence, North Andover , Haverhill, Groveland , West Newbury , Merrimac , and Amesbury , to its mouth at

1066-536: The construction of the Middlesex Canal , Newburyport was an important shipbuilding city, in a location to receive New Hampshire timber that had been floated downriver. The Merrimack River watershed covers 5,010 square miles (12,980 km ) in southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts. It is the fourth largest river basin in New England . The river begins in the city of Franklin, New Hampshire , at

1107-542: The criteria also specify the percentage of silt, sand and coarse fragments such as gravel, cobbles and rocks. About 4,500 soil families are recognised in the United States. A family may contain several soil series which describe the physical location using the name of a prominent physical feature such as a river or town near where the soil sample was taken. An example would be Merrimac for the Merrimack River in New Hampshire. More than 14,000 soil series are recognised in

1148-473: The difference between mean summer and winter temperatures is less than 6 °C, then add "Iso" at the front of the name of the Soil Temperature Class. The soil moisture regime, often reflective of climatic factors, is a major determinant of the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems, including agricultural systems. The soil moisture regimes are defined based on the levels of the groundwater table and

1189-499: The exposure of aquatic life to chemical pollution within the Merrimack River. Additionally, the use of road salt in the winter has remained a major pollutant since the 1970s, and chloride contamination in the Merrimack River continues to impact aquatic life. United States politicians from New Hampshire and Massachusetts are calling for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reassess

1230-515: The lower levels of the Soil Taxonomy. The cryic temperature regime distinguishes some higher-level groups. These regimes are based on the mean annual soil temperature (MAST), mean summer temperature, and the difference between mean summer and winter temperatures all at a soil depth of 50 cm. It is normally assumed that the MAST (in °C) equals the sum of the mean annual air temperature plus 2 °C. If

1271-465: The most endangered rivers in the United States, as named by the American Rivers nonprofit in 2016. Current concerns include stormwater runoff , urban stormwater, high levels of bacteria, combined sewage runoff, phosphorus creating harmful algal blooms , reduced oxygen levels, illicit sewage discharges, and litter . Combined sewer overflows (CSO) are the largest contributors to waste discharge into

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1312-624: The name of the Merrimack River—from which all subsequent uses derive, such as the name of the Civil War ironclad—remains uncertain. There is some evidence that it is Native American. In 1604 the natives of later New England told Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts , who was leading a colony of French language speakers to Acadia (later Nova Scotia ), of a beautiful river to the south. The French promptly pronounced its native name as Merremack . In 1605 Samuel de Champlain followed this lead, found

1353-404: The official spelling be "Merrimack". Prior to glaciation, the Merrimack continued its southward course far beyond the present day New Hampshire-Massachusetts border to enter the Gulf of Maine near Boston . Upon the glacier's retreat, debris deposited north of Boston filled the lower Merrimack Valley, redirecting the river into its current northeast bend at Lowell. The Neville archaeological site

1394-604: The orders end with the suffix -sol . The criteria for the different soil orders include properties that reflect major differences in the genesis of soils. The orders are: The percentages listed above are for land area free of ice. "Soils of Mountains", which constitute the balance (11.6%), have a mixture of those listed above, or are classified as "Rugged Mountains" which have no soil. The above soil orders in sequence of increasing degree of development are Entisols, Inceptisols, Aridisols, Mollisols, Alfisols, Spodosols, Ultisols, and Oxisols. Histosols and Vertisols may appear in any of

1435-607: The river and renamed it Riviere du Gas . The French and their name did not remain on the Merrimack. The natives dwelling along the river at the time of European exploration included the Agawam and Naumkeag on the lower reaches, the Pawtucket at Lowell, Massachusetts , the Nashua , Souhegan and Namoskeag around Manchester, New Hampshire , the Pennacook northward from Bow, New Hampshire , and

1476-472: The river in 1973. A 1976 study of the chemical dynamics of the Merrimack River found that at that time, the biggest pollution source was road salt . Although the river underwent significant restoration efforts from the 1970s onwards, a 1997 study found that the river continued to suffer from the long-term effects of pollution. The study identified that the river had elevated bacteria counts, low dissolved oxygen , and high nutrient levels . A few years later,

1517-438: The river's infrastructure, there was a noticeable change in wildlife and aquatic life. Birds, fish, and other animals returned to inhabit the river, with citizens noting specifically seeing much more American shad , striped bass , trout , and Atlantic salmon . The involvement of local volunteers in monitoring and maintaining the river has provided effective restoration efforts over the years. The Merrimack River remains one of

1558-442: The river's most serious flood events, measured at Lowell. The Francis Gate had been left in place after being dropped in 1936, so it prevented flooding in 1938 as well. In 2007, the steel beam system was again assembled in place. The song "Merrimack River" and its instrumental reprise are featured on the 2009 album Amanda Leigh by Nashua, New Hampshire, native Mandy Moore . Anya Seton 's historical novel Avalon includes

1599-538: The river. In addition, human recreational activities such as swimming and boating have been restricted in certain areas of the river due to high contamination levels. The Federal Clean Water Act of 1972 led to significant improvement for the Merrimack River. The law required sewage to be treated before being discharged into waterways. Federal funding allowed officials to create the river's infrastructure, specifically funding for wastewater treatment plants (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2006). Following these changes in

1640-503: The six major sub-basins in the watershed, listed moving downstream along the Merrimack: Since 1951, the Merrimack River has seen many alterations and pollutants. It was dammed and canalled , as well as used as a dumping spot for industrial waste . The Merrimack was essential for textile mill complexes, which used the river for discharge from their factories. Citizens recall that the river had unusual colors, smells, and vegetation as

1681-453: Was called West Amesbury until 1876, at which time it adopted its current name and spelling. Merrimack, New Hampshire , was incorporated in 1746, spelling its name "Marrymac" in the record of its first town meeting. It was referred to as "Merrimac" into the early 19th century: in the 1810 decennial census, it was spelled "Merrimac", but in the 1820 census and afterward, "Merrimack". In 1914, US Congressman John Jacob Rogers (MA) petitioned that

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