LOCATION COLONIE NY NJ OH PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Lamellic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Colonie loamy fine sand, 5 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) loamy fine sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine and very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; slightly acid (limed); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
E1-- 8 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy fine sand; very weak very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
E2-- 16 to 28 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the E horizon is 0 to 33 inches.)
E and Bt1-- 28 to 44 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) fine sand; single grain; loose; very few fine roots; contains 3 wavy lamellae that range from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick that are brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sand, massive, friable, clay bridging sand grains; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
E and Bt2-- 44 to 63 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) fine sand; single grain; loose; contains 2 wavy 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick lamellae and 5 very thin branching lamellae 1/32 inch thick that are brown (7.5YR 4/4) sand and brown (7.5YR 5/3) fine sand, massive, friable, clay bridging sand grains; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the E and Bt horizons is 8 to 65 inches.)
C-- 63 to 80 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) fine sand; single grain; loose; few medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) areas of iron accumulation; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Orleans County, New York; Town of Gaines; 500 feet north of the junction of U.S. Highway 104 and Eagle Harbor Road; 275 feet east of the center of Eagle Harbor Road. USGS Ashwood, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 16 minutes, 40 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 15 minutes, 5 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to more than 80 inches. The depth to the first lamellae ranges from 14 to 48 inches. Typically, rock fragments are lacking, but some pedons contain up to 5 percent fine gravel above 48 inches, and up to 35 percent fine gravel below 48 inches. Reaction is very strongly acid to neutral in the solum, and strongly acid to moderately alkaline in the C horizon. Some pedons have carbonates below 40 inches.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 or 4, moist. Dry colors have value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is fine sand to very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak granular, subangular blocky, or it is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8 in the upper part and 2 to 8 in the lower part. Texture is dominantly fine sand or loamy fine sand with some pedons containing thin very fine sand subhorizons. It is massive or single grain, or has weak granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or loose.
Some pedons have a Bw horizon.
The (E and Bt) horizon has properties similar to the E horizon and contains horizontal lamellae (Bt) that have hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 3 to 6, and are typically darker colored than the soil in the interlamellar areas. The lamellae are fine sand to fine sandy loam and are friable to firm. In some pedons, some of the lamellae do not have a distinct increase in clay content. Textures are for the fine earth fraction.
Some pedons may have a BC horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Some pedons have redoximorphic features below 40 inches. Texture is dominantly fine sand or loamy fine sand; however, some pedons have contrasting layers of finer textured deposits, or coarser deposits ranging to fine gravel, below depths of 48 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chelsea, Coloma, Grinter (T), Lakin, and Millrock series. None of these series allow free carbonates. Chelsea soils are in LRR M and to lesser extent in the western part of LRR L; they commonly contain more and thicker lamellae than Colonie soils. Coloma and Grinter (T) soils have less than 50 percent fine and very fine sand in the particle-size control section. Lakin soils are at elevations above 860 feet msl. Millrock soils have buried A horizons. (See remarks for additional information.)
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Colonie soils are on slight rises, summits, shoulders, back slopes and foot slopes of Wisconsin age lake plains, dunes, outwash plains, deltas, and beach ridges. Slopes are mostly nearly level to rolling, but some are moderately steep or steep and the gradient ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Colonie soils formed in glaciolacustrine or glaciofluvial (outwash) materials and associated eolian deposits dominated by fine and very fine sand. Elevations range from 95 to 860 feet msl. The climate is humid and cool temperate. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 40 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. The mean growing season ranges from 120 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Amboy, Arkport, Collamer, Delaware, Dunkirk, Elnora, Galen, Lamson, Minoa, Niagara, Stafford, Unadilla, Wallington, and Williamson soils. Delaware and Unadilla are typically associated in the extreme southern portions of MLRA 144A. Amboy, Wallington, and Williamson soils have fragipans and formed in silty glaciolacustrine sediments. Arkport, Delaware, Galen, Lamson, and Minoa soils have coarse-loamy particle-size control sections. Collamer, Dunkirk, and Niagara soils have fine-silty particle-size control sections and have argillic horizons. Elnora and Stafford are moderately well drained and somewhat poorly drained soils in a drainage sequence with Colonie soils. The well drained Unadilla soils are coarse-silty.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained to excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from negligible to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high through very high in the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are in woodlots of sugar maple, red oak, and other hardwoods. About 1/4 to 1/2 of the acreage is cultivated. Large areas are idle and are covered with poverty grass, quack grass, annual weeds, and shrubs such as sumac. Locally, the soil is used intensively for growing vegetables and deciduous fruits, and less intensively in other places for growing corn and hay.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Erie-Ontario Plain, Erie-Huron Lake Plain, valleys in the glaciated Allegheny Plateau, and the Mohawk, St. Lawrence, Champlain, and Hudson Valleys of New York; New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. MLRA's 99, 101, 139, 140, 142, and 144A. The soil is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Albany County, New York, 1936.
REMARKS: The taxonomic classification was changed from Argic Udipsamments to Lamellic Udipsamments due to updates contained in the 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy.
Additional study is needed to provide more definitive differentiation from the Lakin and Chelsea series. Presently, these series are geographically separated. Continuing this approach is practical for now.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Lamellic Subgroup - as evidenced by lamellae within 200 cm of the mineral soil surface (E and Bt1, and E and Bt2 horizons).
New surface runoff class names are not comparable to or the same definitions as the old names.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data available from NSSL for pedon sample numbers - S61NY37 9, S61NY37-4, and S57NY28-1. Also data from pedon AB-110, sample numbers 11845 to 11856, and pedon AB-117, sample numbers 15278 to 15289 from Ashtabula County, Ohio, and pedon LK-7, sample numbers 19567 to 19572 from Lake County, Ohio, analysis by the Ohio State University Soil Characterization Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio.