LOCATION CAVODE PA+MD NY WV

Established Series
Rev. AWD-WRK-ART
04/2025

CAVODE SERIES

The Cavode series consists of deep and very deep, somewhat poorly drained upland soils formed in residuum weathered from gray and yellow acid shale interbedded with siltstone and sandstone. These soils are found on broad ridgetops, interfluves, and sideslopes. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is low. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1067 mm (42 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 10.5 C (51 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Endoaquults

TYPICAL PEDON: Cavode silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 28 centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 30 centimeters thick)

Bt--28 to 38 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; common fine roots; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg1--38 to 53 centimeters; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; few prominent clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent reddish yellow (5YR 6/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg2--53 to 76 centimeters; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) iron and manganese coatings on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 10 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg3--76 to 119 centimeters; gray (5Y 6/1) silty clay loam; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium platy; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plactic; few prominent clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) coatings on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 10 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 61 to 99 centimeters.)

BCg--119 to 145 centimeters; gray (5Y 6/1) channery silt loam; weak medium platy structure; firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; 20 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (13 to 64 centimeters thick)

R--145 centimeters; gray clay shale.

TYPE LOCATION: Indiana County, Pennsylvania; Canoe Township 4 kilometers southeast of Rossiter, 400 meters west and 38 meters north of intersection of State Route 1046 and Township Road T533 (Henry Road). Latitude 40.8605000, Longitude -78.9195000 WGS 84, Coordinates derived from original pedon description.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 76 to 152 centimeters. Depth to bedrock ranges from 100 to more than 200 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the Ap and Bt horizons and from 0 to 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. The reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout, unless limed.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Fine-earth texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

Some pedons have E, BA, or BE horizons with colors and textures similar to the Bt horizon.

The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6, and it has redoximorphic features. Textures are silt loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay.

The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, chroma of 1 or 2, and it has redoximorphic features. Fine-earth textures are silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.

Some pedons have a thin horizon of weathered coal with black colors and loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam textures in the B or C horizons.

The BC, when present, has colors and textures similar to the C horizon.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4, and it has redoximorphic features. Fine-earth textures range from silt loam to clay.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in this family.
Tygart and Wate Series are closely related, but have a semiactive CEC class and both series are formed in old alluvial deposits.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cavode soils are on broad nearly level to moderately steep upland ridgetops, sideslopes, and benches with slopes of 0 to 25 percent, but most slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The soils developed in materials weathered from acid gray and yellow shale with some interbedded siltstone and thin-bedded sandstone. The climate is humid temperate. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 8.3 to 12.7 C and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 914 to 1422 millimeters.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Cavode is a member of a drainage sequence which includes the poorly drained Armagh and the moderately well drained Wharton soils. The Brinkerton, Ernest, Gilpin, Rayne, and Weikert soils are also nearby. All of these soils except Armagh average less than 35 percent clay in the particle size control section. The moderately well drained Ernest and poorly drained Brinkerton soils have fragipans. Gilpin, Rayne, and Weikert soils are well drained. In addition, Gilpin and Weikert soils have bedrock within 100 centimeters. Armagh soils have a depleted matrix in all horizons between the Ap and the C horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runof is negligible to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is low.

USE AND VEGETATION: About 60 percent has been cleared for cropland or pasture. Wooded areas are in mixed hardwoods, mainly oaks.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA's 124, 126 and 127 in western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, southern New York, and West Virginia. The series is of large extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1931.

REMARKS: The type location was visited and the pedon reclassified as part of the MLRA 126 soil survey Update in Southwestern Pennsylvania in November 1999 to place Cavode in the Endoaquult great group. This is consistent with the historic and contemporary concept of the series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 28 centimeters.(Ap Horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - The zone from 28 to 119 centimeters (Bt and Btg horizons).
c. Aquic conditions at or near the surface - Redoximorphic features in all horizons between the Ap horizon and 38 centimeters.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Data for the typifying pedon published in Soil Survey for Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1968, sample No. S61 Pa-32-59(1-6), additional data available sample No. S73 Pa-10-37(1-11), No. S73 Pa-10-38(1-9), and No.S73 Pa-10-39(1-10).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.