LOCATION HAZLETON PA+KY MD NJ OH VA WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Hazleton sandy loam, very stony, from an area of Hazleton channery sandy loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes, in hardwood forest at an elevation of 1880 feet.. (Colors for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oe--0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) partially decayed forest litter; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)
E--2 to 4 inches; 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 9 inches thick)
Bhs--4 to 6 inches; 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--6 to 8 inches; 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--8 to 17 inches; 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--17 to 24 inches; 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--24 to 34 inches; 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 24 to 39 inches.)
C--34 to 58 inches; 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. (13 to 22 inches thick)
R--58 to 72 inches; 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, 0.5 mile southeast of the intersection of S.R. 3005 and Hearts Content Road (S.R. 2002), 500 feet west of road. USGS Cobham, PA topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 43 minutes, 19.2 seconds N, Longitude 79 degrees, 15 minutes, 31.2 seconds W. (NAD 83)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 25 to 50 inches. Depth to lithic contact ranges from 40 to 80 inches . Rock fragments of angular sandstone, dominantly less than 10 inches in size, range from 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. The control section averages less than 18 percent clay. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through extremely acid throughout where unlimed.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. The Ap horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 4. The A or Ap horizon is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 1 to 4. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine- earth fraction.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. The B horizon has more than 40 percent sand. The upper part of the B horizon is sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction, and the lower part may range from loam to loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky, but can be granular in the Bhs horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. It ranges from loam to loamy sand in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: Dekalb and Wallen are the only other series in this family. They both have lithic contact 20 to 40 inches below the surface.
Lehew, Marbleyard, and Hailey are in related families. Lehew and Marbleyard have lithic contact 20 to 40 inches below the surface. Hailey soils formed in cherty limestone residuum and are in a higher cation exchange activity class.
The Sherando and Varilla series may become competitors as their classification is updated to the eighth edition of Soil Taxonomy. Sherando soils formed in water sorted materials. Varilla soils formed in colluvium.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Hazleton soils developed in residuum from acid gray, brown, or red sandstone and are found on summits, shoulders, and the upper third of backslopes. Slopes are usually convex with gradients of 0 to 80 percent.. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 60 inches, and the mean annual air temperature ranges from 47 to 55 degrees F. The average annual frost free season is 110 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing Dekalb and Lehew soils and the Clymer, Cookport Edgemont, and Leetonia soils are on the same landscape. Buchanan, Gilpin, Laidig, and Rayne soils are nearby. Buchanan, Cookport, and Laidig soils have fragipans. Gilpin soils have bedrock within 40 inches. Clymer, Edgemont, and Rayne soils have argillic horizons. Leetonia soils have spodic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is neglegible to high. Permeability is moderately rapid to rapid.
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 possibly Ohio. MLRA's 124, 126, 127, 147, 148.
The series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 1960.
REMARKS: The Hazleton series was in a mixed mineralogy family until 1995.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches (E, Bhs, and Bs horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 8 to 34 inches (Bw horizon).
3. Loamy-skeletal feature - greater than 35 percent by volume weighted average rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data is available on the typifying pedon, Pennsylvania State University sample number S1967-PA-062-001(1-11).