LOCATION BRACEVILLE PA+NJ NY
Established Series
Rev. DGG-EAW_AWD
04/2025
BRACEVILLE SERIES
The Braceville series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in glacial outwash of stratified sand, silt, and gravel. They are on terraces, benches, fans, and moraines. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to low. Mean annual precipitation is 1050 millimeters. Mean annual air temperature is about 9.9 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Braceville gravelly loam - cultivated on a 3 to 8 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 20 centimeters, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam; weak medium granular structure; friable, nonsticky, slightly plastic; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 28 centimeters thick.)
Bw1--20 to 45 centimeters, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (18 to 38 inches centimeters thick.)
Bw2--45 to 61 centimeters, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common medium distinct light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) iron-manganese accumulations in the matrix; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 36 centimeters thick.)
Bx--61 to 91 centimeters, brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium platy; firm, brittle; many very coarse distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions on all faces of peds, common medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions in matrix; common very coarse yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron-manganese accumulations in a rind around depleted prism faces; few faint clay films lining pores; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (20 to 89 centimeters thick.)
C--91 to 152 centimeters, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) stratified sand and gravel; common medium distinct gray (N 5/0) streak-like iron depletions; single grain; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Mercer County, Pennsylvania, East Lackawannock Township, two miles southwest of Mercer.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 76 to 140 centimeters. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 38 to 76 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is greater than 150 centimeters. Depth to low chroma mottles ranges from 41 to 76 centimeters. Stratified sand and gravel is at depths of 76 to 180 centimeters. Rock fragments of dominantly gravel range from 0 to 30 percent in the A and Bw horizons and from 20 to 50 percent in the Bx horizon. Reaction, where not limed, ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid above the Bx, and from strongly acid to slightly acid in the Bx and C horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is sandy loam, loam or silt loam in the fine earth.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 3 through 6, and it can be mottled. It is sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth. Structure is weak fine or medium subangular blocky. Consistency is friable.
The Bx horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, chroma of 3 through 6, and it is mottled. It is sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine earth. Structure is weak very coarse prismatic parting to weak medium or thick platy. Consistency is firm and brittle. Some pedons have thin BC horizons.
The C horizon has hue of 5Y through 5YR. It is usually gravelly loamy sand or sandy loam and includes stratified layers of sand, gravel, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES:
Bath,
Broadalbin,
Ira,
Lackawanna,
Mardin,
Rushford,
Sodus,
Swartswood,
Wellsboro, and
Wurtsboro soils are in the same family.
All of the listed series lack stratified materials within the series control section, do not have C horizons that have loamy sand textures or have Cd horizons.
Montauk soils lack Bx horizons and lack mottles above a depth of 76 centimeters.
The
Atherton, Bridgeville,
Fredon,
Jimtown,
Ludlow,
Montauk,
Nantucket,
Red Hook,
Rexford,
Sciotoville, and
Wethersfield soils are in related families. All of these soils except Rexford and Sciotville soils lack fragipans.
Rexford soils have a horizon with 50 percent or more redoximorphic depletions with chroma of 2 or less within a depth of 50 centimeters of the mineral surface and redoximorphic concentrations with 12 inches of the surface.
Sciotoville soils have an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Braceville soils are nearly level to moderately steep soils on terraces, beaches, fans, and moraines. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in glacial outwash of stratified sand, silt, and gravel derived largely from noncalcareous gray sandstone and shale, but may contain small amounts of reddish rocks and limestone. Some pedons have a thin silty mantle. Climate is humid and temperate, with mean annual precipitation of 900 to 1290 centimeters; average annual air temperature of 8.5 to 10 degrees C., and the growing season is 140 to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Alton,
Atherton,
Chenango,
Chili,
Conotton,
Fredon,
Red Hook,
Rexford,
Riverhead, and
Tunkhannock soils are on nearby landscapes. Alton, Chenango, Chili Conotton, Riverhead, and Tunkhannock soils are well drained or somewhat excessively drained, lack fragipans, and commonly are on uplands above the Braceville soils. Atherton soils are poorly or very poorly drained on depressions or lowlands. Fredon, Red Hook, and Rexford soils have a horizon with dominant chroma of 2 or less within a depth of 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. Runoff is slow to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to low.
USE AND VEGETATION: About 85 percent is cleared and used for growing crops and pasture. Woodlands are dominantly northern hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Pennsylvania, southern New York, New Jersey. MLRA's 139, 140, and 144A. Series is of moderate extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Trumbull County, Ohio, 1914.
REMARKS:
1. Braceville soils in MLRA 127 should be evaluated.
2. Diagnostic Horizons and Features:
a. Ochric Epipedon from 0 to 20 centimeters (assume dry color greater than 5/3).
b. Cambic Horizon from 20 to 61 centimeters.
c. Fragipan from 61 to 91 centimeters.
3.Laboratory data is lacking on soils correlated to Braceville.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.