LOCATION ALBRIGHTS PA+MD NY WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Fragiudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Albrights silt loam - wooded, 8 to 15 percent slopes. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe-0 to 0.5 inch; partially decomposed leaves, twigs and mosses, very strongly acid. (0 to 2 inches thick)
A--0.5 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many roots; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
E--3 to 5 inches; reddish gray (5YR 5/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many roots; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--5 to 12 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak fine granular and weak medium subangular structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many roots; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--12 to 24 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam; many coarse distinct weak red (2.5YR 4/2) redox depletions; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common roots; common thin continuous clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Btx1--24 to 36 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) silty clay loam; many medium distinct reddish gray (5YR 5/2) redox depletions; moderate, very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky and medium platy; firm, brittle, sticky and plastic; few thick clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
Btx2--36 to 45 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) channery silty clay loam; many medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) iron accumulations; moderate, very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm, brittle, sticky and plastic; few thin continuous clay films on faces of peds; few black concretions; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
C--45 to 62 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) channery silt loam; many medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) iron accumulations; massive; firm in place; nonsticky and slightly plastic; many black concretions; 40 percent rock fragments; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Perry County, Pennsylvania, Rye Township, 2 1/2 miles southwest of Grier Point; one mile north of the intersection of PA Routes T305 and 34, in a woodland, east of T305; USGS Wertzville topographic quadrangle; lat. 40 degrees 18 minutes 21 seconds N. and long. 77 degrees 7 minutes 20 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 65 inches or more. Depth to bedrock ranges from 5 to 8 feet or more. Depth to the fragipan ranges from about 18 to 32 inches. Rock fragments range from 5 to 30 percent in the solum above the Btx, from 10 to 50 percent in the Btx, and from 25 to 75 percent in the C horizon. Reaction, where unlimed, ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid in the upper part of the solum, and from strongly acid to slightly acid in the lower part and C horizon. Low chroma redox depletions and high chroma iron-manganese accumulations occur within 16 inches of the soil surface.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, values of 2 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam or silt loam.
An E horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5YR, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam or loam.
Horizons in the B above the Btx have hue of 2.5 YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 6. Texture ranges from silt loam to clay loam. Structure is usually subangular blocky or blocky. The Bx has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture ranges from loam to silty clay loam. Redoximorphic features can have a variety of colors.
The C horizon is similar to the B horizon in color and texture but it has massive structure.
COMPETING SERIES: The Albrights series is the only soil currently in this family. Nockamixon, Rittman, and Teegarden series are in a similar family but lack hue of 5YR and redder.
The Amwell, Canfield, Titusville, Turbotville, and Urbana series may become competitors as their classification is updated to the eighth edition of soil taxonomy.. Amwell soils formed in colluvium or glacial material from igneous rocks and contain fragments of basalt. The Canfield, Titusville, Turbotville, and Urbana soils lack hue of 5YR and redder.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Albrights soils are on nearly level to moderately steep concave hillsides on footslopes, toeslopes, and in U-shaped drainage heads. Slopes range from 0 to 25 percent. Albrights soils formed in a regolith of colluvium or glacial till from reddish shale, siltstone and fine grained sandstone. The climate is temperate and humid, with mean annual precipitation of 36 to 46 inches; average annual temperature is 48 degrees to 55 degrees F., and the frost free growing season is 140 to 220 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Meckesville, Calvin, Klinesville, Leck Kill, and Lehew soils are on nearby landscapes. Calvin, Klinesville, Leck Kill, and Lehew soils lack fragipans and are well drained.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well to somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is negligible to very high. Permeability in the fragipan is moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Approximately 30 percent is cleared and in cropland and pasture. Wooded areas are mixed hardwoods, dominantly oaks.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Appalachian ridge and valley, Allegheny Plateau and Mountains and surrounding glaciated areas of Pennsylvania. Also in ridge and valley areas of Maryland, West Virginia, and possibly Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 1960
REMARKS: Diagnostic Horizons and Features of this soils: Ochric Epipedon- the horizon from 0 to 3 inches
A. Argillic Horizon - the Bt1, Bt2, Btx1 and Btx2 horizons from 5 to 45 inches. Fragipan - The Btx1 and Btx2 horizons.
B. Base saturation is greater than 35 percent at a depth of 54 inches.
C. Aquic Feature - Redoximorphic accumulations and depletions with chroma of 2 or less occur within 16 inches of the mineral soil surface.
The term "mottles" as used in the soil survey description was changed to redoximorphic features. The A2 horizon was rename E to reflect a terminology change, and B1 was renamed Bt1.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Fulton County, Pennsylvania, Soil Survey. PEDON S62-PA-29-12(1-6).