LOCATION CHAMPLAIN NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, frigid Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Champlain loamy sand, on a 7 percent north-east facing slope, in a hay field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)
Ap1-- 0 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loamy sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and few medium roots; 7 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
Ap2-- 7 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loamy sand; weak medium subangular blocky parting to weak medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Ap horizon is 4 to 11 inches.)
Bw1-- 10 to 16 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) sand; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; few fine tubular pores; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 16 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand; single grain; loose; common fine roots; 3 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 3 to 25 inches.)
BC-- 24 to 35 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) fine sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; less than 1 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 23 inches thick.)
C1-- 35 to 50 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) fine sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C2-- 50 to 72 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) and dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; 1 percent rock fragments; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York; town of Moriah, 50 feet east of Cheney Road, 1.4 miles south of the junction of Cheney Road and Pelfershire Road; USGS Port Henry, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 03 minutes, 44 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 29 minutes, 02 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 12 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments, mainly gravel, range from 0 to 10 percent, by volume, throughout the soil.
Some pedons have an O horizon composed of fibric or hemic material. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid.
The Ap horizon has a hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is fine sand, loamy fine sand, sand, or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have an Ap less than 10 inches thick that ranges to a fine sandy loam texture. It has fine or medium granular structure or subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable or friable. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid. Some pedons have an A horizon in place of the Ap horizon.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is dominantly fine sand but ranges to loamy fine sand, sand, or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. It has subangular blocky structure or is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is dominantly fine sand, but ranges to loamy fine sand, sand, or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. It is single grain and loose or very friable. Reaction is moderately acid to neutral.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is fine sand, loamy fine sand, sand, or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. There may be thin strata that vary from the textural range, but the average texture of the C horizon stays within the given range. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Abbeylake, Cantlin, Claire, Corliss, Denjay, Feldtmann, Friendship, Grayling, Hiawatha, Mahtomedi, Menahga, Nymore, Plainbo, Sartell, Serden, Shawano, and Sunday series in the same family. Abbeylake and Corliss soils have free carbonates in the series control section. Cantlin and Feldtmann soils have redder hues in the substratum. Claire and Grayling soils are not dominated by fine sand or loamy fine sand in the 10-40 inch control section and have a lower moisture content in the series control section during the growing season. Danjay and Plainbo soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Friendship soils have redox accumulations in the series control section. Hiawatha soils have redder hues in the surface. Mahtomedi soils have a higher content of rock fragments and a lower moisture content during the growing season. Menahga and Nymore soils have 30 percent or more medium or coarser sand in the series control section. Sartell soils have a soil moisture control section that is dry for more than 30 consecutive days in the 120 days following the summer solstice. Shawano soils have a lower moisture content in the series control section during the growing season. Serden and Sunday soils lack a B horizon and are drier.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Champlain soils are on sandy glacial outwash plains, terraces and deltas. Slope ranges from 0 to 70 percent. The soils formed in water-deposited sand derived predominantly from anorthositic gneiss with some marble. Mean annual temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 33 to 50 inches, and the frost-free period ranges from 90 to 140 days. Elevation ranges from 500 to 3000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Becket, Pyrites, Depeyster, Roundabout, Colton, and Naumburg soils. The Becket and Pyrites soils are in low and medium lime till deposits respectively, that occur on nearby uplands. Moderately well drained Depeyster and somewhat poorly drained Roundabout soils are silty soils that occur in nearby lacustrine deposits. Colton soils occupy adjacent positions on outwash plains and are skeletal. Naumburg soils are somewhat poorly and poorly drained, and occupy adjacent depressional areas.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Excessively and somewhat excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high to very high throughout the soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mostly in hay and pasture, or they are idle. A significant acreage is reverting to woodland or brush. Native vegetation is white pine, white birch, red oak, and poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The eastern Adirondack highlands of New York. MLRA 142 and 143. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clinton County, New York, 1995.
REMARKS: Champlain was proposed in Essex County, NY, but established by the Clinton County, NY correlation in 1995.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 10 inches. (Ap1 and Ap2 horizons).
b. Sandy particle-size class - from 10 inches to a depth of 40 inches. (Bw1, Bw2, BC and C1 horizons).