LOCATION BASHER NY+PA WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Basher silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silt loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--9 to 14 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak medium granular; friable; many fine roots; common fine pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2--14 to 20 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silt loam; very weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; few fine distinct brown (7.5YR 5/2) iron depletions and many medium distinct brown (7.5YR 5/4) iron concentrations; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw is 10 to 24 inches.)
BC--20 to 27 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; very weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine pores; many medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions and common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) iron concentrations; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C1--27 to 32 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; many medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) iron concentrations; moderately acid; clear irregular boundary.
C2--32 to 42 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) iron concentrations; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
C3--42 to 72 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) fine sandy loam; massive; very friable; contains partially decomposed woody and herbaceous organic material; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Ulster County, New York; Town of Saugerties, 0.85 mile south of N.Y. Route 32, 270 feet south of Cotton Road Bridge, 25 feet west of Creek.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 16 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 20 percent above a depth of 40 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through moderately acid in the solum and very strongly acid through slightly acid in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry color value is 6 or more. It ranges from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. It ranges from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, medium or coarse subangular blocky, prismatic, or granular. Consistence is friable or firm.
The BC horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. It ranges from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is very weak or weak subangular blocky or platy, or the material is massive. Consistence is friable or firm.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. The material is massive, or has very weak to moderate platy structure. Consistence ranges from very friable to firm.
COMPETING SERIES: The Iotla, Philo, and Pootatuck series are in the same family. The Iotla soils have redoxomorphic concentrations in the upper part of the B horizon. They are somewhat poorly drained. The Philo soils have 7.5YR or yellower hue in the solum. Pootatuck have a 10YR or yellower hue in the solum and have a coarser substratum. The Bash series was a member of the same family, but has not been updated for CEC reaction class. The Bash soils have redoximorphic features in the upper part of the B horizon.
The Barbour, Comus, Linden, Middlebury, Northbend(T), Otego(T), Pope, and Teel series are similar soils in related families. Barbour and Northbend(T) soils have a coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal particle-size class. Comus, Linden, and Pope soils do not have mottles with chroma of 2 or less above a depth of 24 inches. Middlebury and Teel soils have browner colors in the solum and greater than 60 percent base saturation above 30 inches. Otego(T) soils have a coarse-silty particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Basher soils are on flood plains and low terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The soils formed in alluvium derived mainly from acid, reddish sandstone, siltstone and shale in both glaciated and residual areas. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 degrees to 50 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 45 inches; and mean frost-free season ranges from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The well drained Barbour and Linden soils, the somewhat poorly drained Bash soils, and the poorly to very poorly drained Wayland and Wyalusing soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Albrights, Calvin, Kedron, Lackawanna, Meckesville, Oquaga, and Wellsboro soils are on adjacent uplands. Birdsboro, Raritan, Tunkhannock, and Wyoming soils are on nearby terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low. Permeability is moderate in the A and B horizons, moderate or moderately slow in the upper part of the C horizon, and moderate or moderately rapid in the lower part of the C horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared and are used to grow corn, small grains, hay, vegetable crops, and pasture. Woodlots contain maple, oak, hemlock, and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and possibly, New Jersey. MLRA 127, 140, and 147. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Orange County, New York, 1912.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
(1) Ochric Epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (the Ap horizon)
(2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 9 to 20 inches (the Bw horizons)
(3) Aquic subgroup - redox depletions with chroma of 2 or less within 50 cm of the soil surface.