LOCATION CAYUGA NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, mesic Oxyaquic Glossudalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Cayuga silt loam on a 6 percent slope in a cultivated area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; 2 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
E-- 8 to 12 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) concentrations of iron oxides; 2 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick.)
Bt-- 12 to 25 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) silty clay; moderate medium blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; common fine pores; grayish brown (10YR 5/2), light gray (10YR 7/2) dry, faces of peds 2 millimeters thick occupying 25 percent of the upper 3 inches of the horizon; continuous reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay films on faces of peds and many thick clay linings in pores in lower part; 2 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt is 8 to 20 inches.)
2C1-- 25 to 32 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) loam; weak thick platy structure; firm; few fine roots; few fine pores; few fine faint strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) concentrations of iron oxides; 10 percent rock fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 16 inches thick.)
2C2-- 32 to 49 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; firm; few fine pores; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
2C3-- 49 to 72 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loam; weak medium platy structure; firm; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly effervescent, moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Orleans County, New York; Town of Barre; 500 feet west of Drake Island Road and 50 feet north of Gillette Road. USGS Albion, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 8 minutes, 23 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 13 minutes, 29 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Depth to the lithologic till substratum is 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 10 percent by volume above the lithologic discontinuity and from 10 to 50 percent below. Depth to carbonates ranges from 20 inches to 60 inches or more.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction ranges from fine sandy loam to silty clay loam. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through neutral.
The E horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction ranges from fine sandy loam through silty clay loam. Structure is weak or moderate, subangular blocky or platy, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through neutral.
In some pedons a Bt/E horizon replaces or underlies the E horizon. The E part has moist colors similar to the E horizon and dry color value of 6 through 8 and chroma of 2 or 3.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. In pedons lacking Bt/E horizons, the upper 2 to 4 inches of the Bt horizon has uncoated silt and sand grains on faces of peds 1 to 2 millimeters thick with dry color with value of 6 through 8 and chroma of 2 or 3. The horizon often lacks redoximorphic features, but some pedons have few or common, faint or distinct iron oxide concentrations. Texture of the fine-earth fraction ranges from silty clay loam or clay loam, through clay. Structure is moderate or strong, fine to coarse, subangular or angular blocky, or prismatic over structure parting to these. Consistence is firm or very firm. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through slightly alkaline.
Some pedons have a BC horizon with hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is silty clay loam or clay loam through clay. Structure is moderate or strong, medium or coarse subangular or angular blocky, or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm. Reaction ranges from slightly acid through moderately alkaline.
The 2C horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is fine sandy loam, loam, clay loam, silt loam or silty clay loam. Reaction ranges from neutral through moderately alkaline. Free carbonates are present in most pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family.
Caneadea, Odessa, and Rhinebeck series are in related families. Caneadea, Odessa and Rhinebeck soils have reduced matrices or ped faces with dominant chroma of 2 or less and redoximorphic features in the upper part of the argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cayuga soils are undulating, rolling, and hilly soils on till plains where a thin fine-textured deposit from proglacial lakes overlies the till. The underlying till is derived from limestone, dolomite, sandstone or shale. Slope ranges from 2 to 25 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 degrees to 50 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 42 inches; and the mean annual frost-free period ranges from 130 to 190 days. Elevation ranges from 95 to 800 feet above sea-level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Honeoye, Ontario, Cazenovia, and Lansing soils on adjacent till plains that lack the overlying lacustrine sediments and Hudson and Schoharie soils are associated where the lake deposits are thicker. Churchville soils are somewhat poorly drained associates in a drainage sequence with Cayuga soils.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from low to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mineral surface and subsurface layers, low to moderately high in the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing hay, pasture, small grains, and corn. Some areas are idle. Woodlots contain sugar maple, red oak, white ash, hickory, yellow birch and associated hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Principally on the Ontario plain, the north-sloping valleys of the glaciated Allegheny Plateau, Champlain Valley and the Mohawk Valley in New York. MLRA's 101, 140, 142, and 144A. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Seneca County, New York, 1936.
REMARKS: The Cayuga Series was originally classified in the Great Group of Hapludalfs, but because changes established in the 5th edition of "Keys to Soil Taxonomy" this soil now classifies in the Great Group of Glossudalfs.
Included in the range of Cayuga are some pedons that may have a dense C horizon. This needs to be considered in maintenance of the series.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric Epipedon - from 0 to 12 inches (Ap and E horizons).
2) Argillic horizon - from 12 to 25 inches (Bt horizon).
3) Glossic horizon - from 12 to 15 inches as evidenced by albic
materials on faces of peds constituting more than 15 percent of the remnant argillic horizon.
4) Oxyaquic Subgroup - as evidenced by redoximorphic features from 25 to 32 inches (2C horizon).