LOCATION BARBOUR            NY+MD PA WV  
Established Series
Rev. JWW-WEH-STS
04/2001

BARBOUR SERIES


The Barbour series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in recent alluvial deposits derived from areas of acid, reddish sandstone, siltstone, and shale. They are nearly level or gently sloping soils on flood plains. Mean annual temperature is 50 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is 40 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Fluventic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Barbour loam, on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 6 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) loam, pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary (6 to 10 inches thick).

Bw1--6 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silt loam; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium, fine and very fine subangular blocky; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; faces of peds are dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3); strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (12 to 24 inches thick).

Bw2--18 to 26 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) gravelly loam; very weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few fine pores; 20 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary (0 to 10 inches thick).

2C--26 to 72 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very gravelly loamy sand; single grain; loose; 50 percent gravel; strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Delaware County, New York; 3/4 mile N-NE of hamlet of Beerston between the West Branch of the Delaware River and the old railroad grade; opposite southern edge of Cable Hollow which enters the valley from the east. Elevation 1175 feet; USGS Walton West, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees 08 minutes 12 seconds N, and longitude 75 degrees 09 minutes 30 seconds West. NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 18 to 40 inches. Depth to the 2C horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 35 percent in the solum and from 0 to 60 in the substratum.

The Ap horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry color values are 6 or more. It is fine sandy loam through silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate granular and consistence is very friable or friable. Some pedons have a thin black A horizon and a thin dark reddish brown Bhs horizon where unplowed. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid.

The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam, in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is prismatic, subangular blocky, or granular and consistence is very friable or friable. Some pedons have a sandy loam BC or Bw horizon less than 5 inches thick. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid.

The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. It ranges from loamy fine sand through sand in the fine-earth fraction. It is massive or single grain. Some pedons have a C horizon that is similar to the Bw in color and texture, but has prismatic or platy structure. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. The Basher, Comus, Hamlin, Hamplain, Linden, Northbend(T), Occum, Otego, Philo, Pootatuck, Pope, Tioga, Waitsfield, Weider, and Wenonah are similar soils in related families. The Northbend(T) soils have redox features within 24 inches. None of the other soils above have contrasting particle size control sections. In addition, Basher, Philo, Pootatuck, Otego, Waitsfield, and Weider soils also have redox featurees within 24 inches. Hamlin and Tioga soils have more than 60 percent base saturation within 30 inches and are not as red; Comus, Hamplain, Occum, Otego, Philo, Pope, Pootatuck, Waitsfield, Wieder, and Wenonah soils are, also, not as red.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Barbour soils are on convex or plane flood plains, alluvial fans, and low terraces. They formed in alluvium from areas of reddish sandstone, siltstone, and shale in both glaciated and residual areas. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 45 inches; mean frost-free season ranges from 120 to 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The moderately well drained Basher soils, the somewhat poorly drained Bash, and the very poorly drained Wayland and Wyalusing soils are associated in a drainage sequence. The loamy-skeletal, well drained Trestle and moderately well drained Deposit soils are also closely associated with Barbour soils on higher gradient floodplains. Lackawanna or Neckesville soils and their wetter associates are on adjacent till-covered uplands. Leckkill, Calvin, and Klinesville soils are associated in non-glaciated areas. Birdsboro, Raritan, Tunkhannock, and Wyoming soils are on associated glacial outwash and stream terraces.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to low. Permeability is moderate in the A horizon, moderately rapid in the B horizon, and rapid in the C horizon.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared and are used to grow corn, small grain, hay, vegetable crops, and pasture. The few woodlots remaining include maple, oak, beech, sycamore, and elm.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern and eastern New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia. MLRA's 140, 127, 147, and 148. The series is moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bradford County, Pennsylvania 1911.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 6 to 26 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
c. Dystrudepts feature - base saturation (by Ammonium Acetate) is less than 60 percent in the zone from 10 to 30 inches.
d. Fluventic subgroup - organic carbon decreases irregularly with depth or is 0.2 percent or more at a depth of at least 50 inches below the soil surface.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.