LOCATION ERIE NY
Established Series
Rev. JEW-WEH-PSP
09/2017
ERIE SERIES
The Erie series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in loamy till. They have a fragipan at depths of 25 to 53 cm (10 to 21 in) below the soil surface. These soils are of uniform slope, and are on footslopes and broad divides in uplands. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan, and moderately low in the fragipan and substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 8 degrees C (46 degrees F.) and mean annual precipitation is about 1080 mm (42.5 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Fragiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Erie silt loam, on an 8 percent slope in an abandoned field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap -- 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2), dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many fine and very fine roots; 10 percent channers; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (13 to 30 cm [5 to 12 in] thick)
E -- 25 to 36 cm (10 to 14 in); brown (10YR 5/3) channery silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine and few medium roots; few fine faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) iron depletions and many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of oxidized iron; 15 percent channers; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 36 cm [0 to 14 in] thick)
Bg -- 36 to 46 cm (14 to 18 in); olive gray (5Y 5/2) channery silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; gray (5Y 5/1) masses of reduced iron on faces of peds and many fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of oxidized iron; 20 percent channers; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 36 cm [0 to 14 in] thick)
Bx -- 46 to 94 cm (18 to 37 in); olive (5Y 4/3) channery silty clay loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure; very firm; brittle; few fine roots along prism faces; prism faces are gray (5Y 5/1) with yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) rinds; 25 percent channers; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (25 to 122 cm [10 to 48 in] thick)
C1 --94 to 114 cm (37 to 45 in); olive (5Y 4/3) channery silty clay loam; massive structure; firm; few fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of oxidized iron; 30 percent channers; slight effervescence; slightly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
C2 -- 114 to 152 cm (45 to 60 in); olive (5Y 4/3) very gravelly loam; massive structure; firm; 30 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; strong effervescence; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Cortland County, New York; town of Virgil, approximately 300 feet north of Puderbaugh Road. USGS Cortland, NY topographic quadrangle. Latitude 42 degrees, 30 minutes, 03.4 seconds N. and longitude 76 degrees, 13 minutes, 43.1 seconds W., NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 76 to 147 cm (30 to 58 in). Depth to carbonates ranges from 89 to 165 cm (35 to 65 in). Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 25 to 53 cm (10 to 21 in). Depth to bedrock is greater than 152 cm (60 in). Rock fragments, mostly channers, gravel, cobbles or flagstones, range from 5 to 35 percent above the fragipan and from 15 to 60 percent in the Bx and C horizons.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Dry value is 6 or more. It is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction or their gravelly or channery analogues. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid. Some pedons have an A horizon 3 to 10 cm (1 to 4 in) thick, with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3.
The E horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine earth fraction or their gravelly or channery analogues. It has subangular blocky or platy structure, and friable or firm consistence. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
Some pedons have a B horizon with hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is similar to the E horizon. An E horizon underlies the B horizon in some pedons. Some sub horizons within 76 cm (30 in) of the surface are dominated by chroma of 3 or more.
The Bx horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction or their gravelly to very channery analogues. Consistence is firm or very firm and the material is slightly brittle or brittle. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to slightly alkaline, and is neutral within a depth of 102 cm (40 in).
Some pedons have a BC horizon that has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is similar to the Bx horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction or their gravelly to very channery analogues. The C horizon has plate or prismatic-like divisions, or it is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Volusia and
Wiscoy series. Volusia soils are in general more acid in the solum and do not have free carbonates within a depth of 165 cm (65 in). Wiscoy soils are underlain with silty lacustrine deposits in the lower subsoil and substratum.
The
Chippewa,
Dalton,
Morris,
Norchip,
Ontusia,
Ravenna,
Rexford,
Scriba, and
Venango series are similar soils in related families. Chippewa soils lack a layer, within a depth of 6 to 30 in that has 50 percent or more high chroma colors (3 or more with redoximorphic features or 2 or more if redoximorphic features are lacking) either in the matrix or as redox features. Dalton soils have a coarse-silty particle size control section. Morris, Rexford, and Scriba soils have a coarse loamy particle-size control section. Norchip and Ontusia soils have frigid temperature regimes. Ravenna and Venango soils have an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Erie soils are on nearly level to moderately steep slopes on summits, backslopes and footslopes. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. These soils formed in till of Wisconsin age derived from siltstone, sandstone, shale, and some limestone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 795 to 1725 mm (31 to 68 in), mean annual temperature ranges from 6.0 to 11.0 degrees C (43 to 52 degrees F) and mean annual growing season ranges from 105 to 180 days. Generally, these soils occur at elevations between 100 and 670 m (328 to 2198 ft), but have been mapped as high as 750 m (2,460 ft) in some areas.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Chenango, competing
Chippewa, and
Langford soils. Chenango soils are on nearby glacio-fluvial terraces and formed in gravelly deposits. Chippewa soils are poorly drained and very poorly drained, and are drainage associates found in depressions. Moderately well drained Langford soils and well drained soils are on adjacent convex knolls and ridges.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Saturated Hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan, and moderately low in the fragipan and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: A large acreage is idle, and some is used for growing forage crops and pasture associated with dairy farms. Woodlots contain sugar maple, white ash, northern red oak, white pine, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Commonly the glaciated Appalachian Plateau of central and western New York and may occur in northwest Pennsylvania and possibly New Jersey. MLRAs 101, 139, 140, and the western portion of MLRA 144A . These soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Erie County, New York, 1929.
REMARKS: The Erie Series was previously classified as Aeric Fragiaqualfs, however, laboratory data indicates these soils do not have enough illuviated clay to have a qualifying argillic horizon. A new typifying pedon was previously selected that fit the classification as an Aeric Fragiaquepts. In 2017, another new typifying pedon was selected in the mesic temperature class because the previous Typical Pedon was located in the frigid temperature regime.
The series is correlated extensively in New York but may exist in border areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 36 cm (0 to 14 in) (Ap and E horizons).
2. Fragipan - the zone from 46 to 94 cm (18 to 37 in) (Bx horizon)
3. Aquepts suborder - aquic moisture regime, and matrix or ped faces with dominant 2 chroma or less with redoximorphic features, within 51 cm (20 in) of the soil surface (Bg) horizon).
4. Aeric subgroup - a zone within 30 in of the soil surface that has chroma higher than 2 in 50 percent or more of the matrix (E horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data for the Erie series can be found at the NCSS Soil Characterization Database, and the soil survey laboratories at Cornell University and The Pennsylvania State University.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.