LOCATION CANARSIE NY
Established Series
JMG-LAH-MCT
01/2014
CANARSIE SERIES
The Canarsie series consists of very deep, well drained soils. The soil has a shallow to moderately deep mantle of human transported natural soil materials and occurs in cut and fill areas on artificial landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the subsoil is moderately slow to moderately high due to compaction, but some pedons may range to high in the truncated natural subsoil. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 13 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is about 1196 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Typic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Canarsie sandy loam in a cut and filled roadside on a 2 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless noted differently.)
^A--0 to 5 cm; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine plus common medium roots; 5 percent gravel-sized rock fragments; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 18 cm thick.)
^Bw--5 to 13 cm; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly sandy loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine and fine plus common medium roots, very few inside the subangular blocky structured peds; very few fine pores; 27 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 7.9); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 20 cm thick.)
^BC--13 to 25 cm; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive with moderately thick (up to 0.5 centimeters thick) plate-like divisions; firm; many very fine and fine plus common medium roots on divisions, very few inside the platy structured peds; very few fine pores; 32 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 25 cm thick.)
^Cd1--25 to 51 cm; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) very gravelly sandy loam; massive with weak very thick (0.5 to 2 cm thick) plate-like divisions; very firm; common very fine and fine roots between, but not inside, the platy structured peds; 42 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; no weathering rind or saprolite around rock fragments; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1) abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 38 cm thick.)
2Cd2--51 to 183 cm; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) gravelly sandy loam; massive; firm; few very fine roots; 27 percent gravel; weathering rinds or saprolite around most rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Richmond County, New York: From the intersection of Forest Hills Avenue and Platinum Avenue, 400 feet northeast on Forest Hill Avenue, then 25 feet to the southeast; USGS Arthur Kill, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 34 minutes, 33.75 seconds N. and Longitude 74 degrees, 09 minutes, 37.20 seconds W., NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the fill materials ranges from 30 to 100 centimeters. The depth to a densic horizon (2Cd) is 50 centimeters or greater. The human transported fill may be any geologic deposit ranging from till, glacial outwash, alluvium, coastal plains sediments, or residuum, usually from a very local source. Rock fragments range up to 35 percent in the control section. The textures include sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam. Most pedons have up to 10 percent artifacts of broken glass, brick, plastic, or other human manufactured debris mixed in with the human transported materials. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to moderately alkaline in the human transported material and from very strongly acid to moderately alkaline in the truncated soil in unlimed areas.
The ^A or ^Ap horizon has hue of 10YR through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. This horizon is defined by granular structure and by organic matter accumulation. Consistence is very friable or friable. Some recognizable pieces of other ^B horizons may be mixed in.
The ^Bw horizons, when present, have hue of 10YR through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. Structure is dominantly subangular blocky, and very fine or fine roots are generally common to many. Consistence is friable. Some recognizable pieces of other ^B or ^A horizons may be mixed in.
Some pedons have ^BC horizons that are massive with plate-like divisions that inhibit roots from penetrating ped interiors, but allows roots to grow between the divisions. The other properties are similar to the ^Bw horizons.
The ^C or Cd horizons have hue of 10YR through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is massive and may have plate-like divisions. Consistence is friable to firm, depending on the degree of compaction. Some pedons have ^Cd horizons that are root-limiting.
The 2Cd horizons have hue of 5YR through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is massive and may have plate-like divisions. Consistence is firm to very firm. At least one layer is dense and root-limiting within 100 cm of the surface. Lithochromic mottles and highly weathered pieces of soft rock are common in the truncated soil. Some pedons contain 2C layers that are friable, but otherwise are similar to the 2Cd horizons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Canarsie soils are on nearly level to steeply sloping artificially created or modified landforms in cut and fill areas. These soils formed in human transported soil material, with a natural subsoil or substratum that has been truncated and usually compacted by machinery. The cap of human transported soil material is relatively clean of refuse, with less than 10 percent artifacts of plastic, glass, bricks, concrete, and metal. The human transported soil material is dominantly from locally excavated materials such as alluvium, weathered till, glacial outwash, Tertiary-aged marine sediments, or coastal plains sediments. Rock fragments are derived from sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, basalt, and quartzite. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1000 to 1250 mm and mean annual temperature ranges from 7 to 17 degrees C.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are
Centralpark,
Foresthills (T),
Greenbelt, and
Greatkills soils. Natural associated soils are
Ludlow and
Wethersfield soils. Centralpark soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section. Foresthills (T) have a dense layer from 100 to 200 centimeters. Greenbelt soils have more than 100 centimeters of human transported material. Greatkills soils have garbage in the control section. Ludlow and Wethersfield soils have less than 30 centimeters of human transported material on the surface.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to medium on vegetated slopes less than 8 percent, and high to very high on vegetated slopes 8 percent and greater. The runoff potential is one class higher where the soil is unvegetated or the surface is poorly protected from erosion. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the subsoil is moderately slow to moderately high due to compaction, but some pedons may range to high in the truncated natural subsoil. The substratum is dense till that occurs within 1 meter of the soil surface.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are generally covered with common weeds, raspberry, and mugwort if deposited in sunny locations; by turfgrass if part of a recreation area. Common reed occurs in some areas. Reed density decreases and the mugwort increases in areas with compacted surface layers. The more compacted areas support sparse populations of various grasses, annuals, and perennials that invade disturbed areas. Reclamation is difficult in smoothed, heavily compacted areas or where common reed density is high.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils occur on modified landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. MLRA 144A and 149B. The soils of this series are small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Richmond County, New York, 2014. Series proposed Richmond County, New York, 1995.
REMARKS: Canarsie soils often exhibit an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth however this is a result of anthropogenic filling (deposition) not alluvial deposition. This excludes them from the concept of Fluvents. Proposed revisions to soil taxonomy will help to clarify this difference.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 13 cm (^A and ^Bw horizon).
2. A densic contact at 25 cm (Cd1 horizon).
3. Calcareous reaction class - the presence of carbonates identified by KSSL procedures in the 2.5 cm zone above 25 cm (Cd1 horizon) based on analysis from KSSL.
4. Non-cambic - The ^Bw and ^BC horizons fail to meet the requirements of a cambic horizon.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Complete characterization data collected as pedon S95NY085013. Pedon analyzed by the NSSL, Lincoln, NE.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.