LOCATION BOMBAY NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Bombay gravelly loam, on a 3 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted).
Ap-- 0 to 10 inches, dark brown (10YR 3/3) gravelly loam; pale brown 10YR 6/3 dry; weak medium and fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine, and common fine and medium roots; common fine tubular pores; 20 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
Bt/E-- 10 to 18 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly loam; weak medium and thick platy parting to weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine and few fine roots; common fine tubular and few medium vesicular pores; few thin clay films on surfaces along pores; brown (10YR 5/3) ped exteriors 1 to 2 mm thick that constitutes less than 15 percent E material in the layer; 15 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation in lower part; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick.)
Bt-- 18 to 25 inches, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular and vesicular pores; common distinct moderately thick clay films on surfaces along pores and on all faces of peds; 20 percent gravel; common fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) soft masses of iron accumulation; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 18 inches thick.)
BC-- 25 to 36 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly loam; weak thick platy parting to weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 20 percent gravel; few secondary calcium carbonate accumulations along surfaces of rock fragments and between plates; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and few fine faint brown (10YR 5/3) soft masses of iron accumulation; slightly alkaline, slightly effervescent; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick.)
C-- 36 to 72 inches, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive with plate like divisions; firm; few very fine roots; 15 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; one 5 mm thick layer of secondary calcium carbonate in upper part; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; moderately alkaline, strongly effervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York, town of Willsboro, 200 feet east of a point on Point Road, that is 900 feet south of the junction of Point Road and Indian Bay Road. USGS Willsboro, NY 15 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 25 minutes. 34 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 22 minutes, 28 seconds W.; 1927 NAD.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Depth to carbonates is 25 to 70 inches. Redoximorphic features occur within 40 inches of the mineral soil surface. Rock fragments range from 5 to 30 percent, by volume, in the mineral solum and from 10 to 35 percent in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, fine or medium granular structure, and very friable or friable consistence. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The BE horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. The horizon is massive, or it has weak or moderate granular, subangular blocky, or platy structure. Consistence is very friable to firm. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
Some pedons have an E horizon with higher value that replaces the BE horizon.
The Bt/E horizons have properties like the Bt horizon in the interiors of the peds, and E-like material on the exterior of ped. The E material has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 through 8 and chroma of 2 through 6. Redoximorphic accumulations may or may not be present in the Bt/E horizons. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or firm. Redoximorphic accumulations range from few to many. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
The BC horizon has texture and color similar to the Bt horizon except for value which is generally higher. Structure is subangular blocky or platy, or the horizon is massive. Redoximorphic accumulations range from few to many. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to slightly alkaline.
The C or Cd horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 6 and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. It is massive or may have weak or moderate plate-like divisions. Consistence is friable or firm. Redoximorphic accumulations range from few to many. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: The Galen and Mt. Zion series are in the same family. Galen soils contain more sand in the Bt horizon than the Bombay soils, which formed in till. The Mt. Zion soils formed in residuum and are more acid.
Conesus, Hilton, Lima, Madrid, Aftad, Blowers, Feldhauser, Freeon, Haugen, Neopit and Scott Lake are similar series in related families. Conesus, Hilton and Lima soils have fine-loamy particle-size control sections. Madrid soils lack redoximorphic features above a depth of 40 inches. Aftad, Blowers, Feldhauser, Freeon, Haugen, Neopit and Scott Lake have a frigid soil temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bombay soils are in nearly level to strongly sloping landforms on till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils developed in late Wisconsin till derived mainly from sandstone and limestone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 45 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F, and the frost-free period ranges from 130 to 180 days. Elevation ranges from 95 to 700 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The well drained Madrid soils, the somewhat poorly drained Massena and Appleton soils, and the poorly and very poorly drained Sun soils are associated in a drainage sequence. Amenia and Nellis soils, which have cambic horizons and the finer textured Honeoye, Lansing, Mohawk and Ontario soils and their wetter associates are on nearby till plains. Alton, Howard, Kars, and Palmyra soils are on nearby glacial outwash plains and terraces.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is very high to very low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral surface layer, moderately high or high in the B horizon, and moderately low to high in the C horizon.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared and used to grow hay, small grains, corn and some fruit. Woodlots contain sugar maple, red oak, white ash, American beech and associated hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Champlain, St. Lawrence and Mohawk valleys and the Ontario plain of New York. MLRA 101 and 142. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, New York, 1954.
REMARKS: Previous classification was Glossoboric Hapludalfs. Because of changes in the 8th edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy, this soil now falls into the subgroup of Oxyaquic Hapludalfs. New pedon from Essex County was used to reflect the Oxyaquic Hapludalfs characteristic which is dominant in New York State.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon:
1) Ochric Epipedon - from 0 to 10 inches (Ap horizon).
2) Glossic horizon - from 10 to 18 inches (Bt/E horizon).
3) Argillic Horizon - from 10 to 25 inches (B part of Bt/E, and Bt horizons).
4) Oxyaquic Subgroup - as evidenced by redoximorphic accumulation of iron above 40 inches (Bt/E, Bt, and BC horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Additional data from pedon S85NY019-11 Cornell University Lab.