LOCATION GETZVILLE NY+PA
Established Series
DWO-JWW-PSP
04/2025
GETZVILLE SERIES
The Getzville series consists of deep, poorly drained and very poorly drained soils formed in silty lacustrine sediments that overlie sandy lacustrine sediments. These nearly level soils occupy slight depressional areas on lake plains. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low in the solum and moderately high in the substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is 9.5 degrees C., and mean annual precipitation is 915 millimeters.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Getzville silt loam - cultivated (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap -- 0 to 20 centimketers; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and very fine roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 25 centimeters thick.)
Bg1 -- 20 to 48 centimeters; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) light silty clay loam; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse blocky; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; few very fine roots; thin continuous grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silt coatings on all faces of peds; thin patchy clay films on surfaces along pores; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bg2 -- 48 to 61 centimeters; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; non-sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) and many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; slightly effervescent; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bg horizon is 15 to 75 centimeters thick.)
2C1 -- 61 to 152 centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sand; massive; very friable; thin firm reddish brown (5YR 5/3) silt loam strata in lower part; few coarse distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
2C2 -- 152 to 184 centimeters; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine and medium sand; single grain; loose; few coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Erie County, New York; Town of Amherst, 0.3 mile south of Tonawanda Creek Road, 300 feet west of New Road, 20 feet south of driveway. USGS Clarence Center, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 04 minutes, 49 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 43 minutes, 41 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the underlying sandy material ranges from 38 to 91 centimeters. The thickness of the solum ranges from 50 to 101 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent in the solum. Rock fragments in the substratum range from 0 to 40 percent with up to 5 percent being greater than 3 inches in diameter. Soil reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral in the Ap, moderately acid to neutral in the B horizon and neutral to moderately alkaline in the 2C.
The Ap horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4 and chroma of 1 through 3. They are silt loam or silty clay loam. They have weak or moderate fine or medium granular or subangular blocky structure and friable to firm consistence.
The Bg1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 6 and chroma of 2 or less. Redoximorphic features with chroma of more than 2 make up more than 40 percent of the matrix in the lower part of the B horizon above depths of 30 inches. The Bg horizon is silt loam to silty clay loam. Structure is weak or moderate, medium or coarse prismatic parting to moderate or strong medium or coarse subangular blocky or blocky. Consistence is friable to very firm.
The Bg2 horizon has color and mottles similar to the Bg1 horizon, but the structure grade is generally weaker. It is silt loam to light silty clay loam. It has friable or very friable consistence except in the 2B3 horizon, which is loose. The B3 horizon contains free carbonates.
A thin 2Bg2 horizon with loamy fine sand to clay loam textures or their gravelly analogues replaces the Bg2 horizon in some pedons.
The 2C horizon has hue of 5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is sand to loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction which, in some pedons, is inter stratified with thin silt loam or very fine sandy loam layers. In most pedons the 2C horizon contains free carbonates.
COMPETING SERIES: Getzville is the only known series in this family.
Canandaigua,
Granby,
Lamson,
Raynham, and
Swormville soils are similar series in related families. Canandaigua and Raynham soils have fine-silty and coarse-silty particles size control sections respectively. Granby soils have a sandy particle-size control section and Lamson soils have coarse-loamy particle-size control sections. Swormville soils have argillic horizons, are somewhat poorly drained and have chroma of more than 2 in the matrix of the upper part of the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Getzville are nearly level soils mainly on glacial lake plains, but are also on older alluvial and outwash plains. Commonly, this soils is only slightly lower in elevation than the associated somewhat poorly drained soils. Slopes are mainly less than 1 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 7.8 to 13.3 degrees C., mean annual precipitation from 760 to 1145 millimeters, and mean annual growing season from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Canandaigua,
Lamson,
Raynham, and
Swormville soils and
Minoa,
Niagara, and
Wayland soils. The Minoa soils are moderately well drained, are coarse-loamy and are on slightly higher landforms. Niagara soils are somewhat poorly drained and are silty to depths greater than 100 centimeters and are on slightly higher landforms. The Wayland soils are poorly drained to very poorly drained fine-silty soils formed in recent alluvium.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Poorly drained and very poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low in the solum and moderately high in the substratum. An apparent seasonal high water table is within 15 centimeters of the surface from November to June. The lowest areas are subject to rare flooding or ponding during periods of maximum snowmelt or rainfall.
USE AND VEGETATION: Though most areas have been cleared and used for growing corn, small grains, and hay, extensive areas have been abandoned and are now reverting back to brushy woodland. Native vegetation was soft maple, swamp elm, black ash, and alder.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Erie and Ontario lake plains and the Allegheny Plateau of New York and Pennsylvania. MLRA 101, 139, 140. The series is of moderate extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Erie County, New York, 1976.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
(1) Ochric Epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 20 centimeters (Ap horizon).
(2) Aquept suborder - Aquic moisture regime, and soil matrix of 2 chroma or less with redox features within 50 centimeters of the soil surface (Bg horizon).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.