LOCATION COUCHSACHRAGA NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic Lithic Humicryods
TYPICAL PEDON: Couchsachraga coarse sand, on a 79 percent slope, in a wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Oe-- 0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) moderately decomposed (hemic) plant material composed of conifer needles, leaves, and twigs; Weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine, and few medium roots; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary.
Oa-- 2 to 4 inches; reddish black (2.5YR 2.5/1) highly decomposed (sapric) plant material; 25 percent stripped sand grains; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine, and few medium roots; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the O horizons is 2 to 20 inches)
Bhs-- 4 to 9 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1) coarse sand; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; strongly smeary; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; 14 percent gravel; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
R-- 9 inches; Marcy anorthosite bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York, Town of Keene, south-east facing slide areas of Cliff Mountain, 1300 feet due north of a point on Upper Twin Brook that is 1.4 miles upstream from the junction of upper and Lower Twin Brook, 300 feet up the slide face. USGS Mt. Marcy topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 05 minutes, 38 seconds N., Longitude 73 degrees, 58 minutes, 46 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock ranges from 4 to 10 inches from the mineral soil surface. Rock fragment content ranges from 0 to 35 percent by volume throughout the solum. Stones and boulders cover from .01 to 15 percent of the surface. Reaction ranges from ultra acid to very strongly acid in the surface and subsurface horizons, and from extremely acid to strongly acid in the subsoil.
The O horizons have hue of 10R to 10YR or are neutral, with value and chroma of 3 or less. It is fibric, hemic, or sapric material. It has weak or moderate, fine or medium granular or subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons have an E horizon that has hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sand, sand, or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak fine or medium granular or subangular blocky structure, or is single grain. Consistence is very friable, friable, or loose.
The Bhs horizons and Bh horizons (where present), have hue of 10R to 7.5YR or, with value and chroma of 3 or less. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, fine sand, sand, or coarse sand in the fine-earth fraction. They have weak or moderate, fine, medium, or coarse granular or subangular blocky structure, or are single grain. Consistence is very friable, friable, or loose. It is moderately or strongly smeary.
Bedrock is anorthositic gneiss (metamorphosed anorthosite).
COMPETING SERIES: Skylight is currently the only other series in the same family. Skylight soils have mineral soil horizons 10 to 20 inches thick over bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Couchsachraga soils are on summits, shoulders, and backslopes of mountains and ridges at elevations greater than 3000 feet. Slope ranges from 15 to 80 percent. The soils formed in a thin mantle of sandy material over bedrock. In some pedons this mantle is till, and in most pedons it is residuum derived from the underlying anorthositic gneiss bedrock. In very steep areas the mineral soil material is colluvium from unstable upslope positions. The mean annual temperature ranges from 30 to 43 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 45 to 80 inches. The frost-free season ranges from 80 to 110 days. Elevations range from 3000 to 5400 feet above mean sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Skylight series and the Esther, Ricker, Santanoni, and Wallface soils. Skylight soils occupy similar landscape positions and have mineral soil horizons 10 to 20 inches thick over bedrock. Ricker soils are thin organic soils on landforms similar to those of Couchsachraga soils. Esther and Wallface soils occupy less sloping, more stable parts of the landscape, are coarse-loamy, and are very deep and moderately deep to bedrock respectively. Santanoni soils are also on similar topographic positions, but have mineral soil horizons 20 to 40 inches thick over bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat excessively and excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff is very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high in the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: All areas are in forest and used mainly for wildlife habitat and recreation. Dominant trees are red spruce and balsam fir. Other trees include yellow birch, paper birch, mountain ash, striped maple, northern white cedar, and gray birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Adirondack Mountains of northern New York and possibly northern New England. MLRA 143. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, New York, 2007.
REMARKS: Some pedons have enough andic soil properties to key out as Andic Humicryods if they did not key out as Lithic first, and some pedons lacking E horizons will key out as Lithic Haplocryands. These are similar soils in use and management to the Lithic Humicryods concept.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Spodic horizon - the zone from 4 to 9 inches (Bhs horizon).
b. Humic feature - more than 6 percent organic carbon in the upper 4 inches of the spodic horizon.
c. Lithic feature - bedrock at 9 inches from the soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL laboratory data is available for the following pedons:
S93-NY-031-005, S93-NY-031-009, S93-NY-031-012, S94-NY-031-004.