LOCATION HIBERNIA NJEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Hibernia cobbly loam - in a wooded area at an elevation of about 1195 feet. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 5 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) cobbly loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fibrous and fine roots; common fine vesicular pores; common uncoated sand grains; 30 percent stones, cobbles, and gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
BA--5 to 9 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) cobbly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fibrous and fine roots; common fine vesicular pores; few faint silt coatings on pebbles and faces of peds and faint bridging with silt and sand grains; few clean sand grains; 20 percent stones, cobbles, and gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--9 to 16 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) cobbly sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fibrous and few fine roots; common fine vesicular pores; few faint brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds and in sand pebble niches; 20 percent stones, cobbles, and gravel in approximately equal proportions; common fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron accumulations and common fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) iron accumulations; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--16 to 25 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) cobbly sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fibrous and fine roots; few fine vesicular pores; few distinct brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay films on faces of peds and in sand and pebble niches; 20 percent stones, cobbles, and gravel in approximately equal proportions; common fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) iron accumulations and common fine and medium prominent grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 5 to 32 inches.)
Bx--25 to 36 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly sandy loam; coarse wedge-shaped elongated mottles that have strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) exteriors and light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) to light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) interiors; weak thick platy structure; firm, brittle; few very fine noncontinuous pores; 25 percent gravel, cobbles, and stones; few strong brown to yellowish red iron oxide and black manganese stains on plate surfaces; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)
C1--36 to 62 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) gravelly sandy loam; massive; firm; few very fine continuous pores; 25 percent gravel, cobbles, and stones; common coarse distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) iron depletions and common coarse prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) and brown (7.5YR 4/4) iron accumulations; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
C2--62 to72 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very gravelly loamy sand; single grain; loose; 40 percent gravel, cobbles, and stones, strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Passaic County, New Jersey; Township of West Milford, 20 feet west of Lud Day Road at a point 1.83 miles north of intersection of Stickles Road and Lud Day Road; USGS Newfoundland quadrangle; latitude N. 41 degrees 06 minutes 15 seconds, longitude W. 74 degrees 27 minutes 42 seconds, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 24 to 50 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 18 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock is typically greater than 6 feet. Rock fragments range from 5 to 35 percent throughout the solum, and from 0 to 60 percent in the C horizon. Rock fragments are a mixture of gravel, cobbles, stones, and boulders in varying proportions. The rock fragments are primarily granitic gneiss with smaller amounts of sandstone, quartzite, and shale. Quartz, feldspar, and mica, with smaller amounts of ferromagnesian minerals dominate mineralogy. Reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid in the A and BA horizons, except where limed, and is very strongly acid or strongly acid in the B and C horizons.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 through 3. Ap horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Textures range from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have an E horizon 2 to 5 inches thick. It has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4. The range for texture, structure, and consistence is the same as that for the A horizon.
The BA or BE horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. Texture ranges from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 4 through 6. It has redoximorphic features with high and low chroma in these and other hues. Texture in individual subhorizons ranges from loam or sandy clay loam to sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak to moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky. Consistence is friable.
The Bx horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 4 through 6. It has high and low chroma redoximorphic features in these and other hues. Redoximorphic features are commonly concentrated along vertically oriented streaks in vertical sections and polygonal patterns in horizontal sections. Structure is weak or moderate thick or very thick platy, weak to strong very coarse prismatic, subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8, or it is mottled with these and other hues. Texture is commonly loamy sand or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction but the range includes sandy clay loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series currently in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hibernia soils are on nearly level to moderately steep ground moraines, at the base of steeper sloping uplands, and in shallow concave drainageways. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The soils developed in coarse textured till and colluvium derived primarily from granitic gneiss with small amounts of quartzite, sandstone and shale. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 50 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. The frost-free days range from 140 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alden, Netcong, Rockaway, Ridgebury, and Riverhead soils on nearby landscapes. Very poorly drained Alden soils are on lower positions on the landscape. Netcong and Rockaway soils usually occupy higher positions on the landscape. Ridgebury soils usually occupy lower positions on the landscape. Riverhead soils are typically on terraces and outwash plains in major valleys and are in stratified gravelly and sandy deposits.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Hibernia soils are somewhat poorly drained. Surface runoff is negligible to high. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan, slow in the fragipan, and moderate to rapid in the substratum. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low to high above the fragipan, moderately low or moderately high in the fragipan, and moderately low to very high in the substratum. A perched water table is commonly ranges within a foot of the surface in late winter and early spring and following periods of extended rainfall. Lateral seepage to the surface is common, particularly at slope breaks.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded or in idle fields. Natural vegetation is largely woodland dominated by oak, ash and birch with some maple and hemlock. In urban areas much of this soil has been drained or overfilled and is used for housing or industrial development.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern New Jersey; MLRAs 144A and extreme northern portions of MLRA 148. The series is of moderate extent, with a total of about 30,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Morris County, New Jersey, 1971.
REMARKS: The argillic horizon in Hibernia soils is weakly to moderately well expressed. In the same landscape with the Hibernia soils are similar pedons that have soil characteristics more closely associated with cambic horizons.
Cation exchange activity class determined from a review of limited data.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (A and BA horizons).
2. Argillic horizon - the zone from 9 to 25 inches (Bt horizon).
3. Fragipan - the firm, brittle zone from 25 to 36 inches (Bx horizon).
4. Aquic feature - low chroma depletions are in the upper 10 inches of the argillic horizon (Bt2 horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples from pedon 80P0011, samples 80P0043-0053 from Bergen County, New Jersey. Samples by NSSL, Lincoln, NE, 8/78.