LOCATION HAZLETON                PA+KY MD NJ OH VA WV

Established Series
Rev. EAW-AWD-ART
03/2025

HAZLETON SERIES

Depth class: Deep and very deep
Drainage class: Well drained
Parent material: Residuum from acid gray, brown, or red sandstone
Slope range: 0 to 80 percent
Saturated hydraulic conductivity: Moderately high to high
Mean annual temperature: 10.5 C (51 F)
Mean annual precipitation: 122 centimeters (48 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Hazleton sandy loam, very stony, in an area of Hazleton channery sandy loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, in hardwood forest at an elevation of 573 meters. (Colors for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oe--0 to 5 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) partially decayed forest litter; abrupt wavy boundary. (2.5 to 5 centimeters thick)

E--5 to 10 centimeters; dark gray (10YR 4/1) sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common fine and medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 23 centimeters thick)

Bhs--10 to 15 centimeters; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; 5 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

Bs--15 to 20 centimeters; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) channery sandy loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common fine and medium roots; 15 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bw1--20 to 43 centimeters; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) very channery sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common medium and coarse roots; 40 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bw2--43 to 61 centimeters; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very channery sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common medium roots; 45 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bw3--61 to 86 centimeters; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) extremely channery sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; 60 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the B horizon is 61 to 99 centimeters.)

C--86 to 147 centimeters; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) extremely channery coarse sandy loam; massive; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; 60 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; diffuse wavy boundary. (33 to 56 centimeters thick)

R--147 to 183 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandstone. Excavation difficulty is high. Excavation by a tile spade is difficult but easily done by pick using over-the-head swing.

TYPE LOCATION: Warren County, Pennsylvania; Watson Township, (800 meters) 0.5 mile southeast of the intersection of S.R. 3005 and Hearts Content Road (S.R. 2002), 152 meters (500 feet) west of road.
USGS topographic quadrangle: Cobham, PA
Latitude: 41.7220000
Longitude: -79.2586666
Datum: WGS84
Coordinate Source: Derived from original pedon description

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 63 to 127 centimeters
Depth to lithic contact: 100 to 200 centimeters
Rock fragments (angular sandstone, dominantly less than 25 centimeters in size): 5 to 70 percent in individual horizons of the solum and from 35 to 80 percent in the C horizon. Boulders, stones, flags and channers cover about 5 to 60 percent of the surface of some pedons.
Particle size control section clay average: less than 18 percent.
Soil reaction: strongly acid through extremely acid throughout.

A horizon:
Hue-- 10YR
Value-- 2 to 4
Chroma-- 1 to 4
Texture-- fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam

Ap horizon (where present):
Hue--10YR
Value-- 2 to 4
Chroma-- 1 to 4
Texture-- fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam

E horizon:
Hue-- 10YR
Value-- 4 or 5
Chroma-- 1 to 4
Texture-- fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam

B horizon:
Hue-- 10YR to 5YR
Value-- 3 to 6
Chroma-- 3 to 8
Sand content-- greater than 40 percent
Texture-- Sandy loam or loam in the upper part, loam to loamy sand in the lower part
Structure-- weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky, but can be granular in the Bhs horizon

C horizon:
Hue-- 5YR to 2.5Y
Value-- 3 to 6
Chroma-- 3 to 8
Texture-- loam to loamy sand

COMPETING SERIES:
These are the Dekalb, Schloss, Shernado, and Warren soils:
Dekalb, Schloss, and Wallen soils are less than 100 centimeters to lithic contact.
Sherando soils formed in stratified alluvial-colluvial deposits on fans and benches.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Residuum from acid gray, brown, or red sandstone
Landform: summits, shoulders, and the upper third of backslopes
Slope range: 0 to 80 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 910 to 1520 millimeters (36 to 60 inches)
Mean annual air temperature: 8.3 to 12.7 C (47 to 55 degrees F)
Average annual frost free season: 110 to 180 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
The competing Dekalb soils, and Lehew, Clymer, Cookport Edgemont, and Leetonia soils are on the same landscape. Lehew soils have lithic contact within 100 centimeters. Clymer and Edgemont have argillic horizons. Leetonia soils have spodic horizons. Cookport soils have a fragipan.

Buchanan, Gilpin, Laidig, and Rayne soils are nearby. Buchanan and Laidig soils have fragipans. Gilpin soils have lithic contact within 100 centimeters. Rayne soils have argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class: Well drained.
Surface runoff potential: Negligible to high.
Saturated hydraulic conductivity: Moderately high to high.

USE AND VEGETATION:
Most Hazleton soils are in woodland of mixed oaks, maple, cherry and occasional conifers. Some areas have been cleared for pasture and cropland.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio. Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA's) 124, 125, 126, 127, 130A, 147, 148. The series is of large extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED:
Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 1960

REMARKS:
The Hazleton series was in a mixed mineralogy family until 1995.
Hazleton is the Pennsylvania state soil.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 20 centimeters (E, Bhs, and Bs horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 20 to 86 centimeters (Bw horizon).
3. Loamy-skeletal feature - greater than 35 percent by volume weighted average rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
Taxonomic version: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th edition (2022)
ADDITIONAL DATA:
Laboratory data is available on the typifying pedon, Pennsylvania State University sample number S1967-PA-062-001(1-11).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.