LOCATION CUYLER NYTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, frigid Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Cuyler channery silt loam, on a 3 percent slope in a wooded area of mixed forest. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oe-- 0 to 3 centimeters; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) rubbed; loose; common fine roots throughout and common medium roots throughout and common coarse roots throughout; very strongly acid, pH 5.0, Chlorophenol red; abrupt wavy boundary.
A-- 3 to 8 centimeters; black (10YR 2/1) exterior channery silt loam; 15 percent clay; weak medium granular structure, and weak fine granular structure; friable; common fine roots throughout and common medium roots throughout and common coarse roots throughout; common fine vesicular and common fine tubular pores; 19 percent flat angular strongly cemented 2 to 150 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments; very strongly acid, pH 5.0, Chlorophenol red; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bw-- 8 to 25 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) broken face very channery silt loam; 17 percent clay; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure, and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots throughout and common medium roots throughout and common coarse roots throughout; common fine tubular pores; 36 percent flat angular strongly cemented 2 to 150 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.2, Chlorophenol red; clear wavy boundary.
BC-- 25 to 53 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) broken face very channery silt loam; 15 percent clay; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure, and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots throughout and common medium roots throughout; common fine tubular pores; 5 percent flat angular strongly cemented 150 to 380 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments and 38 percent flat angular strongly cemented 2 to 150 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.4, Chlorophenol red; gradual wavy boundary.
2C-- 53 to 79 centimeters; brown (10YR 5/3) broken face very channery loam; 12 percent clay; massive; loose; few fine roots in cracks and few medium roots in cracks; common fine tubular and common coarse vesicular pores; 10 percent flat angular strongly cemented 150 to 380 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments and 40 percent flat angular strongly cemented 2 to 150 millimeter sedimentary rock fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.4, Chlorophenol red; abrupt wavy boundary.
2R-- 79 centimeters; thin bedded sandstone and siltstone bedrock, jointed and with shattered sections, few fine roots penetrate in cracks.
TYPE LOCATION: Cortland County, New York; Town of Cuyler, Maxon Creek State Forest. USGS Cuyler, NY 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle Latitude 42 degrees, 42 minutes, 26.40 seconds N. Longitude 75 degrees, 57 minutes, 49.10 seconds W. NAD 1983. Elevation 1880 feet.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 15 to 59 inches. Depth to bedrock is from 20 to 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 5 to 50 percent in the mineral surface, and 25 to 80 percent in the subsoil and substratum, with greater than 35 percent weighted average between a depth of 10 and 40 inches. Rock fragments are dominantly sandstone and siltstone with smaller amounts of shale. Unless limed, reaction ranges from moderately acid to very strongly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y and has value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 through 3. Texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have a thin organic surface layer.
The BA horizon, if present, has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y and has value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse granular or subangular blocky.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 3 through 8. Texture is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, very fine to coarse subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon, if present, has hue, value, and chroma similar to the Bw horizon. Texture in the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam. Structure is weak fine to coarse subangular blocky or platy or is massive. Consistence is friable or firm.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is sandy loam, loam or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. Consistence is friable or very firm. Some pedons may have a 2Cr horizon above bedrock.
COMPETING SERIES: Knapp Creek, Lagross, Mandy, Macomber, and Rockrift are competing series for Cuyler. Knapp Creek soils are deep and very deep, and are formed in weathered residuum from sandstone conglomerate. Lagross soils are formed from water sorted material. Mandy soils are exclusively moderately deep, and are formed in weathered residuum from siltstone, sandstone, and shale. Macomber soils are exclusively moderately deep and are derived from phyllite and shale material. Rockrift consists of very deep soil formed in till and local colluvium.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cuyler soils are gently sloping to very steep soils that typically occur on side slopes of ridges, ridge tops and valley sides. Slope ranges from 3 to 70 percent. They formed in till and colluvium derived from siltstone, sandstone, and some shale. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 39 to 58 inches, and the mean frost-free season ranges from 100 to 130 days. The elevation ranges from 1750 feet to 2400 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Mongaup soils and the moderately well drained Middlebrook soils. The Middlebrook soils and the Mongaup soils are nearby associates. The shallow, somewhat excessively and well drained Hawksnest and Halcott soils are closely associated on nearby convex landforms, and on slightly higher landforms. Very deep, moderately well drained Willdin soils, and somewhat poorly drained Ontusia soils are on nearby landscapes where the mantle of till is thicker over bedrock. Very deep, well drained Lewbath soils are on adjacent valley sides where the till deposits are thicker.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the solum and moderately high to very high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most area is wooded. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods including sugar maple, beech, white ash, black cherry, and northern red oak along with eastern white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Appalachian Plateau in central and western New York and Pennsylvania. MLRA 140. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES PROPOSED: Cortland County, New York, 2005. Named for the Town of Cuyler.
REMARKS: This series is proposed as a loamy-skeletal Mongaup and the frigid equivalent to Solon.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric Epipedon - from 0 to 8 cm (A and Oe horizons).
2) Cambic Horizon - from 8 to 53 cm (Bw and BC horizons).