LOCATION TOR NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, acid, frigid Lithic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Tor flaggy loam, on a 1 percent slope in a pasture (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches; organic layer of roots, leaf and twig remains.
A--2 to 7 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) flaggy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 25 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (2 to 6 inches thick).
Bg--7 to 19 inches; dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) very flaggy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable: many medium and fine roots; few fine distinct brown (7.5YR 4/3) masses of iron oxides; 50 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (8 to 14 inches thick).
C--19 to 21 inches; dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) very flaggy loam, weak medium platy structure; firm; few fine roots; 50 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary (0 to 4 inches thick).
2R--21 inches, fractured, massive red and olive sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Greene County, New York, Town of Jewett, Rice Street, 0.1 mile southwest of County Route 17, right side of road, 500 feet south of ranch house. USGS Ashland, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees, 15 minutes, 27 seconds N. and longitude 74 degrees, 18 minutes, 20 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 10 to 19 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments range from 15 to 35 percent by volume in the A horizon and 35 to 50 percent in the B and C horizon. Unless limed, reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam or silt loam. Structure is weak or moderate granular. Consistence is very friable or friable. Some undisturbed pedons have a thin Oi horizon at the surface. Also, some pedons have gray sandy loam E horizons.
The B or Bg horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6, chroma of 2 or 3, and redox concentrations are present. If the chroma of the matrix is greater than 2 then >50 % of ped faces have chroma of 2 or less. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam or fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky or prismatic. Consistence is friable or firm.
The C horizon, if present, has color and texture similar to the B horizon. It has plate-like divisions or it is massive.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Tor soils have slope that ranges from 0 to 5 percent. These soils formed in acid glacial till derived from sandstone, siltstone and shale. They occur on bedrock controlled benches or steps on hillsides, mountain sides and upland flats. Mean annual temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 55 inches; and the frost free period ranges from 100 to 130 days. Elevation ranges from 1800 to 2400 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Halcott, Elka, Lewbeach, Mongaup, Onteora, Suny, Vly and Willowemoc soils. Halcott soils are better drained and on drier parts of the same landscapes. Elka, Lewbeach and Willowemoc are very deep soils. Mongaup and Vly soils are better drained and moderately deep. Onteora and Suny soils occur in the same general landscape positions but are very deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to medium. Permeability is moderate in the surface layer and slow or moderately slow in the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly forested. Very few areas have been cleared for agriculture. Native vegetation is mostly red maple, elm, American beech, eastern hemlock, and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central-eastern New York State at higher elevations in the Catskill mountains. MLRA 140. The series is not extensive and has an estimated 5,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Greene County, New York 1985.
REMARKS: Original classification placed Tor in the great group of Haplaquepts. Because of changes established in the 5th and 6th editions of `Keys to Soil Taxonomy' this soil now classifies in the great group of Endoaquepts. Competing series may change as similar soils are reclassified. Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - 2 to 7 inches (A horizon)
2) Cambic horizon - from 7 to 19 inches (Bg horizon)
3) aquic moisture conditions - as evidenced by reduced low chroma (2 or less) matrix colors and redoximorphic features from within 20 inches of the soil surface (Bg horizon -7 to 19 inches)
4) Lithic - bedrock starting within 50 cm of the mineral soil surface at 21 inches. Mineral soil surface starts at 2 inches.
Soil Interpretation Record: NY0343, NY0344