LOCATION GOUVERNEUR NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, nonacid, frigid Lithic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Gouverneur channery loam, on a 4 percent slope in an unmanaged field in early stages of forest succession. (Colors are for moist soil unless indicated otherwise).
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark gray (5YR 3/1) channery loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dry, loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine roots; 15 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--7 to 9 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery fine sandy loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots; 15 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
2R--9 inches; gray dolomitic sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: St. Lawrence County, New York, town of Morristown, 150 feet south of Oak Point Rd, 1400 feet west of the junction of Old Mill Rd. 44 degrees, 32 minutes, and 51 seconds north latitude, 75 degrees, 40 minutes, and 51 seconds west longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 1 to 10 inches. The content of rock fragments ranges from 3 to 20 percent by volume throughout the soil. The soil ranges from moderately acid to mildly alkaline.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 through 3. Texture is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Many pedons have an A horizon in place of the Ap horizon.
The B horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. Some pedons have a few faint high chroma mottles. Texture is silt loam, loam or fine sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. It has weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure, and friable or very friable consistence. Some pedons have a thin saprolitic C or BC horizon immediately overlying the bedrock.
The R horizon has bedrock that is dominantly limestone, marble or dolomitic sandstone.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. The Galoo, Insula, Summerville, St. Ignace, and Quetico soils are in similar families. The Galoo soils are mesic. Insula and Summerville soils are shallow to bedrock. St. Ignace soils are contain free lime. Quetico soils are acid.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gouverneur soils are on smooth bedrock controlled landforms that contain both low escarpments and level areas of exposed bedrock. The slope gradient commonly is 0 to 4 percent, but the full range is 0 to 8 percent. The soil formed in a thin layer of glacial till overlying limestone, dolomitic limestone or marble bedrock. In some areas of marble bedrock the soil formed in residuum. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 42 inches; the mean annual air temperature ranges from 42 to 45 degrees F.; and the mean annual frost-free days ranges from 120 to 150. The elevation ranges from 300 to 600 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Summerville soils and the Grenville, Hogansburg, Nehasne, Ogdensburg, and Ruse soils. The Grenville and Hogansburg soils are very deep to bedrock and are chiefly on steplike sideslopes that punctuate the landscape in places. The Summerville soils and the moderately deep to bedrock Nehasne soils contain cambic horizons. The shallow Ruse and moderately deep Ogdensburg soils occur in shallow basins and have mollic epipedons and aquic moisture regimes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained and somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is slow to medium. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are mostly in unimproved pasture, or they are forested or in various stages of forest succession. Tree species include basswood, northern white cedar, red maple, gray birch, trembling aspen and northern red oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Gouverneur soils are of small extent in the St. Lawrence Valley of Northern New York and possibly the Champlain Plain of Northern New York and Vermont.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: St. Lawrence County, New York, 1990. Named for a town in St. Lawrence County.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1. lithic subgroup - lithic contact at 9 inches.
2. absence of a cambic horizon - the base of the solum is less than 10 inches below the soil surface (lithic contact at 9 inches).
3. nonacid family - the reaction is higher than 5.0 in 0.01 M CaCl2, (generally 5.5 in 1:1 water) in some part of the control section (zone from 0 to 9 inches).
4. loamy family - textures in the zone from 0 to 9 inches.
Soil Interpretation Record Number NY0409