LOCATION BERGEN NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bergen muck on a 1 percent slope in a cultivated area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
0p-- 0 to 10 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed sapric material; about 5 percent fiber, less than 2 percent rubbed; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common roots; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
0a-- 10 to 14 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) broken face and rubbed sapric material; about 5 percent fiber, less than 2 percent rubbed; compact plate like division parting to medium and coarse angular blocky; firm; common roots, especially on ped faces; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
2Cg1-- 14 to 45 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; friable; common medium prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron concentrations; 5 percent shells; neutral; clear smooth boundary.
2Cg2-- 45 to 72 inches; gray (2.5Y 5/1) silt loam, with very thin strata of very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Genesee County, New York; Town of Elba; 1500 feet north of intersection of Oak Orchard Road and Hundredmark Road, 50 feet east of Oak Orchard Road. USGS Batavia North, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 07 minutes, 52 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 09 minutes, 52 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to the fine silty 2C horizon ranges from 8 to 16 inches. The organic material is derived primarily from woody and herbaceous material. Woody fragments occur throughout the solum, consisting of twigs, branches, logs or stumps and average from 0 to 30 percent by volume. Coarse fragments in the substratum range from 0 to 30 percent by volume. The reaction of the organic material ranges from extremely acid to slightly alkaline. Some organic layers contain free carbonates. The reaction of the substratum ranges from moderately acid to moderately alkaline.
The surface tier is neutral or has hue of 2.5Y to 5YR; value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 through 2. It is dominantly sapric material. The structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse granular, or subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable or very friable.
The subsurface tiers have hue of 2.5Y to 5YR, or are neutral; value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 to 3. Thin layers, less than 6 inches thick, of hemic material are in some pedons. Some pedons have a thin layer of sedimentary peat above the 2C horizon. The subsurface tier has granular or blocky structure or is massive. The upper portion typically has weak or moderate, fine to coarse granular or blocky structure. Consistence is friable to firm. The lower portion commonly is massive, but in some pedons has platy structure. The aggregates in this tier are quite firm, but break abruptly under pressure.
The 2C horizon is neutral or has hue of 10YR to 5Y, or 5GY; value of 3 through 7 and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture of the fine earth fraction is silt loam, very fine sandy loam or silty clay loam or gravelly analogues of these textures. Some pedons may have thin individual subhorizons that range from fine sandy loam to silty clay. Consistence is friable to firm. Structure is massive, or plate like divisions with some thin varves.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in the same family.
Similar soils are the Edwards, Henrietta, Martisco, Menlo, Olentangy, Palms, Pavilion, and Warners series. Edwards soils are underlain by marl at depths of 16 to 51 inches. Hentrietta and Pavilion soils formed in organic materials less than 16 inches thick overlying loamy and sandy sediments. Martisco soils formed in organic materials less than 16 inches thick overlying marly material. Menlo soils formed in mucky glacial till deposits with a densic substratum. Olentangy soils formed in coprogenous earth underlain with silty lake sediments or glacial till at a depth of 24 to 50 inches. Palms soils formed in organic deposits more than 16 inches thick and have loamy mineral layers at depths of 16 to 51 inches. Warners soils formed in mineral material that overlies marl at a depth of 12 to 30 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bergen soils are in closed depressions on lake plains, till plains, outwash plains, moraines, and on back swamps of floodplains. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. They formed in organic materials less than 16 inches thick overlying fine silty materials. The mean annual precipitation ranges from about 32 to 38 inches, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 54 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Bergen soils are associated with the Alden, Canandaigua, Carlisle, Lamson, and Palms sols. They are on similar landscape positions. Alden, Canandaigua, and Lamson soils are on the same topographic position but lack the histic layers associated with Bergen soils. Poorly and very poorly drained loamy mineral soils are at the edges of the bogs and are adjacent to Bergen soils. Carlisle soils formed in organic material that is more than 51 inches thick.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low or negligible. Permeability is moderately slow to moderately rapid in the organic layers and moderately slow or slow in the underlying fine-silty material.
USE AND VEGETATION: The greater part of this soil is in marsh vegetation of grasses, reeds, and sedges; and alder, aspen, willow, and dogwood. Some areas have been drained and are used for row crops and some truck crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western and central New York. MLRA's 101 and 140. The soils of this series are of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Genesee County, New York, 2004
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
The reactions shown in the typical pedon are from field measurement. They varied considerably from the lab data results. We do not have an explanation.
a. Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 14 inches (Oa1 and Oa2 horizons).
b. Particle-size class - averages fine-silty in the control section from 10 to 40 inches.
Characterization data is available for the typical pedon S02NY-037-002.