LOCATION COMLY PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Fragiudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Comly silt loam--on 2 to 8 percent slopes in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 5 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 5 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--20 to 27 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silty clay loam; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and light gray (10YR 7/2) mottles; weak medium prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; common faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Btx1--27 to 53 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery loam; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) mottles and many fine faint dark brown (10YR 4/3) mottles; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium platy; very firm, brittle, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common faint clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black coatings; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)
Btx2--53 to 62 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very channery loam; many medium faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) and distinct gray (5Y 5/1) mottles; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thin and medium platy; very firm, brittle, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; few prominent black coatings. 40 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary.
R--62 inches; light olive brown (2/5Y 5/4) weathered shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; East Hanover Township, 3/8 mile southwest of Shellsville on William Penn Highway; 1/16 mile northwest on Manada Road 150 feet southwest of road in cultivated field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 70 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 5 to 8 feet. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 20 to 35 inches. Rock fragments dominantly of shale or siltstone channers range from 0 to 20 percent in the solum above the fragipan and from 10 to 60 percent in the fragipan and C horizon. The unlimed solum is very strongly acid or strongly acid above the fragipan and strongly acid or moderately acid in the fragipan and C horizon. Illite and kaolinite are the most common clays.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. Fine-earth texture is silt loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. The Bt horizon is mottled at depths of below the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon or at more than 16 inches from the surface with 2 or less chroma mottles. Mottles with chroma of 2 or less and associated high chroma mottles are generally at a depths of 18 to less than 30 inches. Fine-earth textures are loam, silt loam, and silty clay loam.
The Bx horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. Fine-earth textures are loam and silt loam. It is usually mottled and has prismatic structure and platy substructure.
The C horizon where present, has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5, and chroma of 6 through 8. Fine earth textures are loam and silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: Bartley, Clarksburg, Gatton, Homewood, Jonca, Readington, and Wooster soils are in the same family. Bartley soils have rock fragments which are dominantly of subangular granitic gneiss. Clarksburg soils have rock fragments of limestone, chert and sandstone. Gatton soils do not have mottles in the upper part of the Bt horizon. Homewood soils formed in regolith from glacial fill. Jonca soils formed in loess over residuum from sandstone. Readington soils have a Bt horizon with hue of 5YR or redder. Wooster soils are well drained.
Abbottstown, Albrights, Alvira, Blairton, Ernest, Ravenna, Rittman, Sciotoville, Turbotville, and Watson soils are in related families. Abbottstown, Albrights, Alvira, Ernest, Ravenna, Rittman, Sciotoville, and Turbotville soils have chroma of 2 or less in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon or within 16 inches of the soil surface. Blairton soils do not have a fragipan. Ernest and Watson soils have less than 35 percent base saturation at a depth of 30 inches below the upper boundary of the fragipan.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Comly soils are on concave nearly level to moderately steep upland drainageways, footslopes and broad flats. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. They formed on residuum, colluvium or materials altered by pariglacial or glacial action. The climate is humid and temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 48 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 55 degrees F., and the growing season ranges from 150 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Bedington, Berks, Blairton, Brinkerton, Hartleton, Shelmadine and Weikert soils are on nearby landscapes. Bedington, Berks, Hartleton and Weikert soils are all well drained. Blairton soils do not have a fragipan. Brinkerton and Shelmadine soils are poorly drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained . Surface runoff is slow to rapid. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and moderately slow in the fragipan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Approximately 80 percent of the Comly soils are in cropland or pasture, 10 percent are in woodland, and 10 percent are in non-farm uses. Wooded areas are mostly mixed hardwoods of oak, hickory and poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and southeastern Pennsylvania and possibly central New Jersey. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1942.
REMARKS: 1. Soil recognized as being very deep. Depth to bedrock changed in the Range In Characteristics section to range from 5 to 8 feet. 2. Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 9 to 27 inches (Bt horizon).
c. Fragipan - the zone from 27 to 62 inches (Btx horizon).
Classification only was changed in 11/94, competing series and other changes will be made later.