LOCATION ELDRED NY+PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, frigid Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Eldred silt loam, on a 6 percent slope in a wooded area at an elevation of 2,120 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A-- 0 to 3 inches, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silt loam; moderate fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1-- 3 to 9 inches, brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 9 to 14 inches, pale brown (10YR 6/3) silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; few medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (combined thickness of Bw horizon is 12 to 24 inches)
Bt1-- 14 to 22 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; thin discontinuous clay films on ped faces and in pores; common medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2-- 22 to 42 inches, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; thin clay films on ped faces and in pores; common manganese stains; common medium prominent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) masses of iron depletion and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 25 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (combined thickness of Bt horizon is 20 to 42 inches)
C-- 42 to 72 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; massive; firm; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) masses of iron depletion and yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cattaraugus County, New York; town of Humphrey, 600 feet south of Fire Lane Road and Chapman Road, 50 feet west of Chapman Road. USGS Ashford, NY Quad.; 42 degrees 15 minutes 19 seconds N Latitude; 78 degrees 31 minutes 30 seconds W Longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 34 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock, typically rippable shale and siltstone, is at depths greater than 72 inches. Rock fragments, dominantly channers and flagstones, range from 5 to 35 percent by volume in the solum, and from 10 to 60 percent in the substratum. Reaction is strongly acid through extremely acid throughout the soil.
The Ap or A horizon has a hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam. The Bt horizon has redox depletions and redox concentrations within the upper 24 inches of the argillic horizon. Structure is subangular or angular blocky. Consistence is friable or firm.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 2 through 6. Texture is similar to the C horizon. This horizon may have redoximorphic features. Structure is subangular blocky or platy. Consistence ranges from friable to very firm.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 6. Textures include loam, silt loam, silty clay loam and clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. It is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family.
The Carrollton, Elko, Frewsburg, Kinzua and Onoville series are in related families. Carrollton and Frewsburg soils have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Elko and Onoville soils have fragipans and Kinzua soils lack the low chroma mottles in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Eldred soils are on nearly level to steep ridgetops, hillsides and valley sides. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from interbedded shale, siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation is from 30 to 45 inches; and the growing season ranges from 90 to 120 days. These soils are mostly at elevations of 1,900 to 2,400 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Eldred soils are the moderately well drained member of a drainage sequence that includes the well drained Kinzua soils. Carrollton, Gilpin, Ernest, Mandy, Onoville, Shongo, Rayne, and Wharton soils are on associated landscapes. Gilpin, Ernest, Rayne and Wharton soils have mesic temperature regimes. In addition, Carrollton and Gilpin soils have bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Onoville and Shongo soils have a fragipan and Shongo soils have low chroma redoximorphic features within a depth of 16 inches. Mandy soils have bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches and lack an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Index surface runoff class is negligible where nearly level to high where steep. Permeability is moderate in the upper solum and moderately slow in the lower subsoil, and moderately slow to slow in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for corn, small grain, hay and pasture. Abandoned idle land is in second growth hardwoods. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods of northern red oak, white oak, black cherry, sugar maple, beech and white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Unglaciated areas of the Appalachian Plateau in southwestern New York at elevations above 1900 feet. Small areas have been mapped in northwestern Pennsylvania along the New York State Line. MLRA 127. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cattaraugus County, New York, 2002.
REMARKS: The Eldred series is being proposed as a frigid equivalent of the mesic Wharton series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 3 inches (A horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 3 to 14 inches (Bw horizons).
c. Argillic horizon - the zone from 14 to 42 inches (Bt horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data is available for the typical pedon from the National Soil Survey Laboratory. Pedon number S90NY009-06
Revised: 02/2002-PSP, ART; 02/2007-MWH, DHK