LOCATION TOWERVILLE NY OH
Established Series
Rev. PSP-WEH-JRS
03/2011
TOWERVILLE SERIES
The Towerville series consists of moderately deep, moderately well drained soils formed in Wisconsinan age till derived from shale, siltstone and small amounts of sandstone on glaciated dissected plateaus. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the upper part of the subsoil and moderately low or moderately high in the lower part of the subsoil and substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 38 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Towerville silt loam, on a 5 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap -- 0 to 12 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine and common medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 13 inches thick.)
Bw -- 12 to 22 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and common medium roots; common fine and few medium pores; 15 percent rock fragments, 5 percent greater than 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 25 inches thick.)
BC -- 22 to 30 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) channery silt loam; very thick platy structure parting to weak medium and coarse angular blocky; firm; slightly sticky; few fine roots; few fine tubular and common fine vesicular pores; greenish gray (5GY 6/1) coats on faces of peds; many fine and medium prominent gray (5Y 6/1) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; many fine and medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 20 percent rock fragments, 5 percent greater than 3 inches in diameter; strongly acid. (0 to 12 inches thick.)
2R -- 30 inches; horizontally bedded siltstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Chautauqua County, New York; Town of Cherry Creek, 1/4 mile south of Weaver Road, 40 feet east of Davison Road. USGS Cherry Creek, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 19 minutes, 20 seconds N, and Longitude 79 degrees, 5 minutes, 44 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments, mainly channers and flagstones, range from 5 to 35 percent in the upper part of the mineral solum, and from 10 to 60 percent in the lower part of the solum and substratum, with the weighted average throughout the soil being less than 35 percent.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium, granular. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid, unless limed. Undisturbed pedons have an O and/or A horizons.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is silt loam, loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, very fine to coarse, subangular blocky, sometimes parting to platy. Consistence is very friable to firm. Reaction is very strongly acid to moderately acid. Some pedons have an AB horizon just above the B horizon.
The BC horizon, or C horizon in some pedons, has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is subangular blocky, prismatic or platy in the BC horizon. Some pedons have a C horizon that is massive. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid.
Some pedons have a 2BC or 2C horizon with hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 6. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam or silty clay. Structure is weak or moderate, subangular blocky, prismatic or platy. Consistence is friable to very firm. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid.
Some pedons have a 2Cr horizon up to 8 inches thick just above the bedrock.
The 2R horizon is shale, siltstone or sandstone bedrock that is often interbedded.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Schuyler series is in the same family. Schuyler soils have bedrock at depths greater than 80 inches.
Chautauqua,
Fremont,
Hornell,
Ischua, and
Orpark are similar soils in related families. Chautauqua soils are very deep and have a coarse loamy particle-size control section. Fremont soils are very deep and both Fremont and Orpark soils have aquic moisture regimes. Hornell soils have a fine particle size control section. Ischua soils are the frigid analog of Towerville.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Towerville soils formed in Wisconsinan age till derived from shale, siltstone and small amounts of sandstone and are on summits, shoulders and sideslopes on bedrock-controlled dissected plateaus. In some pedons the lower part of the subsoil and substratum formed in residuum. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 51 degrees F. The frost free period ranges from 110 to 167 days, and elevation ranges from 720 to 1,800 feet above msl.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Bath,
Busti,
Chadakoin,
Chautauqua,
Chenango,
Fremont,
Langford,
Mardin,
Orpark,
Patchin,
Schuyler,
Unadilla and
Volusia series. The somewhat poorly drained Orpark and poorly drained Patchin soils are in a drainage sequence with Towerville soils. Bath, Langford, Mardin and Volusia soils all have fragipans and are closely associated on nearby landscapes. The somewhat poorly drained Busti, moderately well drained Chautauqua, and well drained Chadakoin are very deep soils on nearby landscapes The somewhat excessively drained Chenango soils are on nearby glaciofluvial terraces. The Fremont and Schuyler soils are on similar nearby landforms where the till is thicker over bedrock. The well drained Unadilla soils are on nearby lake plains and valley terraces.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the upper part of the subsoil and moderately low or moderately high in the lower part of the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing corn, small grains, hay and pasture. A significant acreage has reverted to woodland. Native vegetation is sugar maple, beech, northern red oak, white ash, black cherry and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern New York and northeastern Ohio. MLRA's 101, 139, and 140. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chautauqua County, New York, 1988.
REMARKS: This series was previously correlated as Schuyler Variant.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - from a depth of 0 to 12 inches (Ap horizon).
Cambic horizon - from a depth of 12 to 30 inches (Bw and BC horizon).
Aquic conditions - evidenced by low chroma iron depletions within 24 inches of the soil surface (BC horizon).
Lithic contact - siltstone bedrock at 30 inches (2R horizon).
Udic moisture regime.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data for the typical pedon is available from the Cornell University Soil Survey Laboratory, and engineering test data is available from the New York State Department of Transportation. The pedon number is S83NY13-19.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.