LOCATION CANASERAGA NY
Established Series
Rev. JWW-WEH-PSP
04/2013
CANASERAGA SERIES
The Canaseraga series consists of very deep, well drained and moderately well drained soils formed in loamy till that has a silty mantle. These soils are on lower valley sides. A dense fragipan starts at depth of 18 to 34 inches below the soil surface. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual temperature is 48 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is 37 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Canaseraga silt loam on a 4 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap -- 0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
Bw -- 8 to 18 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam grading with depth to brown (10YR 5/3); very weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; many fine pores; few medium faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix below 15 inches; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick.)
E -- 18 to 23 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) very fine sandy loam; weak thin platy structure; firm; few roots; common fine pores; 5 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
2Bx1 -- 23 to 36 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) channery silt loam; strong very coarse prismatic structure; very firm, brittle; few roots along prism faces; common fine pores; faint clay films on surfaces along pores; prisms are 8 to 18 inches across separated by V-shaped wedges of light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) very fine sandy loam, prisms faces are 1 inch wide at the top tapering to a thin film at 30 inches; prism faces bordered by 1/4 inch yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) rim; few discontinuous cleavage planes inside prisms; 20 percent rock fragments; few faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly acid; diffuse smooth boundary.
2Bx2 -- 36 to 54 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) channery silt; weak very coarse prismatic structure; very firm, brittle; common fine pores; faint clay films on surfaces along pores; 30 percent rock fragments; few fine faint olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; moderately acid in upper part grading to slightly acid in the lower part; diffuse smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bx horizon is 12 to 40 inches.)
2C -- 54 to 72 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) channery silt loam; moderate thick lens-shaped platy structure; very firm; 30 percent rock fragments; few fine faint olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Broome County, New York; town of Whitney Point, 2 miles north of the junction of Highways 25 and 79, 100 feet southwest of a point on a unnamed macadam road, and 300 yards northeast of its junction with Highway 26. USGS Whitney Point, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 22 minutes, 20 seconds N. and Longitude 75 degrees, 58 minutes, 04 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 35 to 65 inches or more. Depth to bedrock is 60 inches or more. Depth to carbonates ranges from 40 inches to more than 100 inches. Thickness of the silty mantle ranges from 15 to 36 inches. Rock fragments, mainly channers, flagstones, and gravel, range from 0 to 10 percent in the silty mantle, and from 10 to 40 percent below in the 2Bx and 2C horizons.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular and consistence is very friable or friable. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid, unless limed.
Some unplowed pedons have an A horizon underlain with thin E and Bs horizons.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. Redoximorphic features may or may not be present in this horizon Texture is very fine sandy loam or silt loam. Structure is granular or subangular blocky, and consistence is very friable or friable. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3, with or without faint or distinct redoximorphic features. Texture is very fine sandy loam, loam, or silty loam. It is massive, or it has platy or subangular blocky structure, and consistence is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
Some pedons have a thin Bx horizon just above the 2Bx horizon, with hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4, with or without faint or distinct redoximorphic features. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam, and contains 10 to 27 percent clay. Primary structure is moderate or strong prismatic, and consistence is firm or very firm, and brittle. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The 2Bx horizon has hue of 5YR through 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4, with few or common redoximorphic features. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam, and contains 10 to 27 percent clay. Primary structure is moderate or strong prismatic, and consistence is firm or very firm, and brittle. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The 2C or 2Cd horizon has the same range in color and texture as the Bx horizon except some pedons may have silty clay loam or sandy loam below 40 inches. The horizon is massive and may have has plate-like divisions. Consistence is firm or very firm. Some pedons exhibit densic properties. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Amboy and
Williamson series are in the same family. Amboy and Williamson soils developed in very deep silty lacustrine deposits and lack rock fragments in the Bx and C horizons.
The
Bath,
Mardin,
Lackawanna, and
Wellsboro are similar soils in a related family. These soils lack the silty surficial mantle and have a coarse-loamy particle-size class.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Canaseraga soils formed in silt-mantled till deposits. They are mainly on lower slopes of large valleys, but locally on moraines that cover the valley floors. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. The underlying till is from siltstone, shale, and sandstone and contains varying amounts of limestone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 42 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 46 to 50 degrees F.; and the frost-free period ranges from 110 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The
Dalton soils are somewhat poorly drained Catena associates. The competing
Bath,
Mardin,
Lackawanna, and
Wellsboro are associated along valley sides. The moderately deep
Lordstown soils are on nearby bedrock controlled landscapes.
Howard and
Chenango soils formed in glacial outwash on nearby terraces.
Unadilla and
Allard soils are on associated silt-mantle outwash terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained and well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to high. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and upper part of the subsoil and slow or very slow in the fragipan and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most acreage of this soil has been cleared and is used for growing hay, oats, corn, or pasture. Some areas are idle and some are in urban uses. Woodlots contain sugar maple, American beech, red oak, and associated northern hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Appalachian Plateau of New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. MLRA 139 and 140. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Allegheny County, New York, 1946.
REMARKS: This soil now classifies in the subgroup of Typic Fragiudepts. Competing series may change as similar soils are reclassified.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 23 inches (Bw and E horizons).
c. Fragipan - the zone from 23 to 54 inches (Bx horizon).
d. Estimated CEC activity class as active from similar soils.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.