LOCATION CHURUBUSCO NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, frigid Lithic Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Churubusco muck on a 0 percent slope in a forested area.
Oe-- 0 to 2 inches, dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) hemic material (mucky peat); 75 percent unrubbed fiber, 25 percent rubbed fiber; massive; very friable; ultra acid (pH 3.2 in CaCl2); gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick).
Oa1-- 2 to 11 inches, very dark gray (5YR 3/1) sapric material (muck); 40 percent unrubbed fiber, 10 percent rubbed fiber; weak fine granular structure; very friable; ultra acid (pH 3.3 in CaCl2); gradual wavy boundary.
Oa2-- 11 to 32 inches, black (5YR 2.5/1) sapric material (muck); 20 percent unrubbed fiber, 5 percent rubbed fiber; massive; very friable; ultra acid (pH 3.4 in CaCl2); abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizons is 10 to 50 inches).
2R--32 inches, light gray (10YR 7/2) sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Clinton County, New York; in the Town of Mooers, 0.7 mile west on Rock Road from Cannon Corners Road, then 500 feet west and south on trail, then 500 feet west into woods; USGS Ellenburg Depot NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 58 minutes, 47 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees 45 minutes 47 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 16 to 50 inches. Woody fragments (up to 2 inches in diameter) are at random throughout the control section and comprise up to 10 percent of the volume in some pedons. Reaction in 0.01M CaC12 ranges from extremely acid to ultra acid throughout.
The surface tier has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 0 through 2 (or it is neutral). This tier consists of hemic and/or sapric material with primarily herbaceous fibers. It is massive or has weak granular structure.
The subsurface and bottom tiers have hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 through 2. These tiers are dominantly sapric material with thin layers of hemic material in some pedons. The subsurface tier has weak granular structure or is massive. The bottom tier is commonly massive.
Some pedons have a thin 2C horizon above the bedrock. It has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loamy sand in the fine earth fraction. The horizon is massive or has weak platy structure. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction is very strongly acid to slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: Skandia is the only other series in the same family. Skandia is not located in Region R.
A closely related series is the Chippeny series, which is less acid. Similar series include the Loxley, Bucksport, Lupton, Seelyeville, and Beseman soils. All of these do not have a lithic contact within the control section. Loxley, Bucksport, Lupton, and Seelyeville soils have organic matter extending to depths greater than 51 inches. Beseman soils have a mineral substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Churubusco soils are nearly level soils in depressions on till plains that are shallow to bedrock. Slope ranges from 0 to 2 percent. The predominant underlying bedrock is sandstone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 36 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 41 to 45 degrees F; and the mean frost-free season ranges from 90 to 140 days. The elevation ranges from 700 to 1200 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bucksport, Conic, Irona, Ricker, Topknot, and Wonsqueak. Wonsqueak and Bucksport soils formed in organic deposits where bedrock is deeper than 60 inches. Ricker soils are well drained organic soils over bedrock. Irona, Conic, and Topknot soils are the commonly associated mineral soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible. Permeability above the lithic contact is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in forest or idle. Dominant woodland species include red maple, paper birch, balsam fir, quaking aspen and black spruce.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The flat-rock areas of northeastern New York and possibly in the Adirondack Mountains. MLRA 143. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clinton County, New York, 1995.
REMARKS: This represents a partial update of the series to Established. Not all items were reviewed at this time.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are as follows:
1) Saprists - Subsurface tier dominated by sapric
material (Oa2 - 12 to 32 inches).
2) Dysic family - all layers are less than pH 4.5
(0.01M CaC12).