LOCATION HORNELLSVILLE NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, acid, frigid Aeric Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Hornellsville silt loam on a 4 percent slope in a hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; strong fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 7 to 10 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; strong coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; few fine pores; 5 percent rock fragments; few fine distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletions in the matrix; very strongly acid.
Bw2-- 10 to 18 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) silty clay; strong medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky; firm; few roots; few fine pores; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) silt coats on all faces of peds; 10 percent rock fragments, mostly soft shale; many medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 5 to 30 inches.)
BCg-- 18 to 33 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silty clay; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thick platy; firm; few fine pores; gray (5Y 6/1) silt coats on all faces of peds; 10 percent rock fragments, most being soft shale; many coarse prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and many medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick.)
C-- 33 to 38 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) channery silty clay; moderate medium plate like divisions inherited from weathered shale; firm; gray (5Y 5/1) plate faces; 30 percent rock fragments mostly soft shale fragments; few medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick.)
2R-- 38 inches; thinly bedded, gray (5Y 5/1) soft shale bedrock; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Steuben County, New York; Town of Troupsburg, 20 feet south of County Road 83, 3/4 mile west of Chenango Cemetery, 0.4 miles south-west of school. USGS Troupsburg, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 02 minutes, 33 seconds N. and Longitude 77 degrees, 29 minutes, 06 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 17 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock range from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent, by volume, in the A horizon, 3 to 35 percent in the B horizon, and 15 to 60 percent in the C horizon. Rock fragment are dominantly channers or flagstones of shale or siltstone.
The A and Ap horizons have hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam. They have granular or subangular blocky structure and very friable to firm consistence. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid, unless limed.
The E horizon, when present, has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, chroma of 1 through 3, and have redoximorphic features. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or it is platy. Consistence ranges from friable to firm.
The Bw or Bg horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8 with distinct or prominent mottles. Ped faces have chroma of 1 or 2 in the lower part. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay in the earth fraction. It has subangular blocky or angular blocky structure which is within medium to very coarse prisms in many pedons. It has firm or very firm consistence. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid.
The BC horizon has subangular blocky or pristmatic structure and is massive or platy within the prisms.
The C horizon is similar in color and texture to the B horizons but the material is massive, or has plate like divisions inherited from the rock structure. Reaction is very strongly acid or strongly acid. Some pedons have a Cr or 2Cr horizon up to 10 inches thick.
The R or 2R horizon is soft shale or siltstone bedrock that weathers readily in the upper part, and can be cut easily with a spade in the upper few inches.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
The Allis, Almond, Hornell, Kanona, and Lamoine series are similar soils in related families. The Allis and Hornell soils have a mesic temperature regime. Almond soils have a fine-loamy particle size control section. Kanona soils are less acid and have a mesic temperature regime. Lamoine soils are not as acid in the solum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hornellsville soils are nearly level to steep soils on uplands. Slope gradients range from 0 to 40 percent. These soils formed in till, or till and residuum. The till forms a mantle, 20 to 40 inches thick, over acid shale or siltstone bedrock. The till is derived from material like the underlying bedrock. In some places the shale bedrock has weathered and part of the soil mantle is residuum. Mean annual temperature ranges from 42 degrees to 45 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 45 inches; and the mean annual frost-free days range from 90 to 140 days. Elevation ranges from 1800 to 2500 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Almond soils, and the Hawksnest, Lewbath, Mongaup, Ontusia, and Willdin soils. Hawknest and Mongaup soils are adjacent soils that have lower clay content and are 10 to 20 inches and 20 to 40 inches deep respectively. The well drained Lewbath soils, somewhat poorly drained Ontusia soils, and moderately well drained Willdin soils formed in very deep glacial till deposits and are on adjacent till plains.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to very high. Permeability is slow or very slow in the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are mostly used at low intensity levels, because of the relatively short growing season, for small grains, hay, potatoes, and pasture. Many previously cleared areas are reverting to brush or woodland. Native vegetation is sugar and red maple, white ash, black cherry, oak, eastern hemlock, and eastern white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-western and south-central New York, and possibly Pennsylvania. MLRA 140. The soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cattaraugus County, New York, 2002.
REMARKS: The Hornellsville series is the frigid equivalent of the mesic Hornell series.
Diagnostic horizons and other feature recognized in the typical pedon are:
(1) Ochric Epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
(2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 18 inches (Bw horizons).
(3) Aquic moisture regime - as evidenced by redoximorphic features and low chromas ped faces below the surface layer (Bw2 and BC horizons).