LOCATION GUFF NY

Established Series
Rev. SCC-FLG-GWS
10/2015

GUFF SERIES

The Guff series consists of moderately deep, poorly and very poorly drained soils on marine plains. They formed in clayey marine sediments overlying bedrock. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is 7 degrees C., and mean annual precipitation is 1000 mm.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Mollic Endoaquepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Guff silty clay loam, in a meadow on a 1 percent west-facing slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap--0 to 23 cm; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; moderate very fine and fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and fine and few medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (18 to 25 cm thick)

Bg1--23 to 36 cm; dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky; firm, sticky, plastic; common very fine and fine, and very few medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; few medium faint very dark gray (10YR 3/1) organic stains on faces of peds; many medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) redoximorphic accumulations; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 38 cm thick)

Bg2--36 to 51 cm; dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and very fine angular blocky; firm, sticky, plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular pores; many medium and coarse distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) redoximorphic accumulations; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 cm thick)

BCg--51 to 99 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silty clay; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak very fine angular blocky; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent; few medium light gray (10YR 7/1) calcium carbonate concretions in lower part; common medium distinct dark gray (10YR 4/1) redoximorphic depletions and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) redoximorphic accumulations; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 36 cm thick)

R--99 cm; weathered limestone bedrock. A thin discontinuous grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sandy loam layer of saprolite immediately overlies the bedrock. This layer contains about 20 percent weathered rock fragments.

TYPE LOCATION: St. Lawrence County, New York; Town of Morristown, 300 feet east-northeast of a point on Scotch Bush Road that is 5400 feet southeast of the junction of Scotch Bush Road and Center Road. USGS Edwardsville, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees 35 minutes 05 seconds N. and Longitude 75 degrees 34 minutes and 48 seconds W., NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 46 to 102 cm. The depth to carbonates commonly ranges from 46 to 102 cm, however, carbonates are absent in some pedons. The depth to bedrock ranges from 51 to 102 cm. Rock fragments, mainly gravel, range from 0 to 5 percent in the A and B horizons and from 0 to 20 percent in the C horizon.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Dry values are 4 or 5. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, silt loam, or clay loam, and includes mucky analogues. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral.

The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Reaction is neutral or slightly alkaline.

The BCg and Cg horizons, when present, are similar in color to the Bg horizon but differ in having free carbonates. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, silty clay, clay, or silt loam. Thin 2C horizons composed of nonconforming glacial till or saprolite are in some pedons. Reaction of the BCg and Cg horizons is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: The Adjidaumo series is in the same family. Adjidaumo soils are very deep to bedrock.

The Guffin, Matoon, Muskellunge and Wegatchie series are similar soils in other families. Matoon, Muskellunge, and Wegatchie soils are very deep to bedrock. Guffin soils have a mesic temperature regime.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Guff soils are on nearly level plains. They formed in clayey marine-deposited sediments that are relatively thin over underlying flat bedded sedimentary rock. The slope gradient ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual temperature ranges from 4 to 9 degrees C., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 790 to 1490 mm. The growing season ranges from 100 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 45 to 175 meters above sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adjidaumo, Hannawa, Heuvelton, Malone, Matoon, Muskellunge and Ogdensburg soils. Adjidaumo soils are on similar topographic positions but are deeper to bedrock. Hannawa soils are on similar topographic positions but are coarse-loamy. Heuvelton, Malone, Matoon, Muskellunge and Ogdensburg soils are on higher landscape positions. Heuvelton soils are moderately well drained. Malone and Ogdensburg soils belong to coarse-loamy families, and Matoon and Muskellunge soils have a layer above 30 inches where high chroma colors exceed 40 percent of the soil matrix.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and very poorly drained. Very poor drainage is restricted to mucky surface phases. The potential for surface runoff is low to ponded. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low or moderately high in the surface, and low or moderately low in the subsoil and substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and used for pasture or for growing hay. Native trees include red maple, American elm, white ash, white cedar and hemlock.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: St. Lawrence Valley of New York and possibly the Champlain Plain of New York. MLRA 142. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.

SERIES PROPOSED: St. Lawrence County, New York, 1986.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 23 cm (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 23 to 51 cm (Bg1 and Bg2 horizons).
c. Mollic subgroup - has an Ap horizon that is darker than typic. Colors of the Ap horizon - value moist of less than 4, value dry of less than 6.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.