LOCATION ANNANDALE NJEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Typic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Annandale gravely loam, in an idle field. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 11 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly loam; strong medium and coarse granular structure; very friable; many roots; 15 percent angular gravel and 2 percent angular cobbles, mainly of granitic gneiss; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 11 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 17 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) gravelly loam; weak medium angular blocky structure; friable; common roots; thick isolated clay coatings in some pores and thin discontinuous clay films on faces of peds; 15 percent angular gravel and 2 percent angular cobbles, mainly of granitic gneiss; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--17 to 32 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) gravelly clay loam; weak medium angular blocky structure; friable, plastic; common roots; discontinuous glossy yellowish red (5YR 5/8) clay coatings on faces of peds and in some channels and voids; 15 percent angular gravel, 2 percent angular cobbles and less than 1 percent angular stones, mainly of granitic gneiss; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 17 to 28 inches)
2Btx--32 to 44 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) gravelly sandy loam; massive and weak thick platy structure; firm, brittle; few roots between peds; thick patchy clay films on faces of peds; 25 percent angular gravel, 5 percent angular cobbles and less than 1 percent angular stones, mainly of granitic gneiss; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)
2C1--44 to 76 inches, strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) sandy loam saprolite; massive; friable; 25 percent angular gravel, 5 percent angular cobbles and less than 1 percent angular stones, mainly of granitic gneiss; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (26 to 36 inches thick)
2C2--76 to 108 inches, yellowish red (5YR 5/8) sandy loam saprolite; massive; friable; less than 10 percent coarse fragments composed of angular granitic gneiss gravel, cobbles and stones; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Morris County, New Jersey; 50 yards southeast of Naughright Road, 3/4 of a mile north of intersection with Flocktown Road. USGS Hackettstown topographic quadrangle; approximate coordinates lat. 40 degrees 49 minutes 35 seconds N and long. 74 degrees 47 minutes 10 seconds W, NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Depth of bedrock ranges from 6 to 20 feet or more. Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 24 to 36 inches. Depth to a lithologic discontinuity ranges from 2.5 to 6 feet or more. Reaction, unless limed, ranges from moderately and slightly acid in the solum, to very strongly acid in the C horizon. Rock fragments, some of which are strongly weathered, range from 1 to 20 percent by volume in the textural control section and upper part of the solum, and from 5 to 35 percent in the Btx and C horizons. Stones are few to common throughout the solum. Rock fragments are dominantly granitic gneiss.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4, and chroma of 3 or 4, moist, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2 or 3, dry. In uncultivated areas A horizons are 2 to 4 inches thick, with hue of 10YR, value of 3, and chroma of 2 through 4. They are loam or silt loam, or their gravelly analogues. Structure is moderate to strong, medium and coarse granular. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bt horizons have hue of 10YR to 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 6 through 8. They are clay loam, loam or silt loam, or their gravelly analogues. Clay content generally ranges from 18 to 35 percent. Structure is weak or moderate, medium, subangular or angular blocky.
The 2Btx or Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5, and chroma of 4 through 8, with variegations associated with soft decomposed fragments of gneiss. Texture is loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam or sandy loam, or their gravelly analogues. It is firm or very firm, brittle and dense.
The 2C or C horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 5 through 8, and chroma of 4 through 8. Texture of the 2C horizon typically loam, sandy loam or rarely loamy sand, all gritty with gravel increasing with depth. Texture of the C horizon (where present) is typically clay loam, loam, or less commonly sandy loam or sandy clay loam. In some pedons with thin sola, the upper part of the 2C or C horizon is firm and brittle.
COMPETING SERIES: The Beltsville, Hanover, Landisburg, Monongahela, and York series are in the same family. Beltsville, Hanover, Monongahela and York soils have redoximorphic features within or above the fragipan, within 40 inches. Additionally, Beltsville soils formed in eolian deposits and the underlying fluviomarine sediments and lack gneissic rock fragments. Hanover and Monongahela soils have rock fragments dominated by sandstone or shale while York soils have rock fragments dominated by sericite schist.
Soils in the closely-related active CEC activity class are the Califon, Delassus, Meckesville, Tonti, and Watson series. Califon, and Watson soils have redoximorphic features within a depth of 40 inches. Delassus soils formed in loess mixed with slope alluvium and have rock fragments derived predominantly from igneous rocks. Meckesville soils have hues of 5YR or redder in the fragipan. Tonti soils have bedrock at depths of less than 6 feet and have rock fragments dominated by chert.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Annandale soils are on gently to strongly sloping uplands. The soils formed in thick (6 to 20 feet), deeply weathered old glacial till (pre-Wisconsin Age) derived dominantly from granitic gneiss. In a few areas a few erratics of chert or shale are present. Much of the gravel-sized gneissic fragments have weathered to ghosts. The average annual temperature ranges from 50 to 57 degrees F. The average annual precipitation is 40 to 48 inches. The growing season is about 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Califon, Cokesbury, Gladstone, and Parker soils. Cokesbury soils are poorly drained and have redoximorphic features immediately beneath the Ap or A horizon. Gladstone soils lack a fragipan. Parker soils lack both a fragipan and argillic horizon and are skeletal.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Annandale soils are well drained. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the upper solum (above the fragipan) and moderately low or moderately high in the lower solum (fragipan). Permeability (obsolete) is moderately slow or slow in the fragipan, and moderate above. Permeability in the underlying saprolite is moderately rapid. Index surface runoff class is medium to very high (depending on slope).
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils have been cleared of trees and are used for cultivated crops, hay and pasture. Original vegetation was chestnut and oak forest and some white pine and yellow poplar. Abandoned fields have grown up to a wide variety of trees and shrubs, including oaks, ash, hickory, maples, sassafras, black cherry, and dogwood.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Annandale soils are located in portions of the Highlands section of the Appalachian Province in New Jersey and possibly eastern Pennsylvania (generally, MLRA 148 - Northern Piedmont) associated with remnants of older (Kansan or Illioian) glacial periods. Extent is moderate, with about 21,000 acres identified.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1941
REMARKS: The 12/2005 revision updates this soil to the 9th Edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy (2003). The CEC activity class placement (semiactive) is based on similar soils (Califon, Gladstone, Bartley, Washington series) with similar parent material. These parent materials appear to be dominantly in a semiactive class based on characterization pedons for Califon, Gladstone and Washington soils. Califon and Gladstone soils are the most similar and have four characterization pedons. One pedon (Califon) is active while three (Gladstone) are semiactive. The pedon description was updated to current horizon nomenclature and redoximorphic feature terminology. Competing series section was also updated.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a) Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of approximately 11 inches (Ap horizon)
b) Argillic horizon - zone from approximately 11 to 44 inches (Bt1, Bt2 and Btx horizons)
c) Fragipan - the zone from 32 to 44 inches (Btx horizon) that is firm, brittle and has massive to platy structure
d) Lithologic discontinuity at 32 inches (top of Btx horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: No laboratory data are available.
MLRA: 148 and the southern fringe of 144A
REVISED: 06/75-CFJ, CFE, JEW; 12/2005-DHK