LOCATION KNOB LOCK NY+ME VT

Established Series
GWS-NB
01/2015

KNOB LOCK SERIES

The Knob Lock series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained through excessively drained organic soils on mountains and hills. They formed in thin organic deposits underlain in most places by a very thin mineral horizon over bedrock. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high through very high throughout the soil. Slope ranges from 3 through 80 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1092 mm and mean annual temperature is about 5 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, frigid Lithic Udifolists

TYPICAL PEDON: Knob Lock moderately decomposed plant material, in a map unit of Hogback-Knob Lock Complex, 35 to 60 percent slopes, very rocky, very bouldery in a very rocky wooded area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Oe -- 0 to 8 cm (0 to 3 in); dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) broken, crushed and rubbed moderately decomposed (hemic) plant material; about 45 percent fiber, 27 percent rubbed; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine, very fine and medium roots; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.

Oa -- 8 to 18 cm (3 to 7 in); black (5YR 2.5/1) broken, crushed and rubbed highly decomposed (sapric) plant material; about 27 percent fiber, 15 percent rubbed; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine and very fine, and common medium roots; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (The combined thickness of the O horizons is 1 to 20 inches.)

Bs -- 18 to 23 cm (7 to 9 in); dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) very fine sandy loam; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine, and few medium roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick.)

R -- 23 cm (9 in); Marcy Anorthosite.

TYPE LOCATION: Essex County, New York; Town of Keene, summit of Blueberry Mountain, about 2.5 miles northwest of the hamlet of Keene Valley; USGS Mt. Marcy, NY 15 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 13 minutes, 03 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 48 minutes, 56.6 seconds W. NAD 1983.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to bedrock ranges from 3 to 50 cm (3 to 20 in). Very thin mineral layers are at the bedrock interface in most pedons. Rock fragments range from 0 through 50 percent by volume in the mineral layers and 0 through 5 percent in the organic material. The organic layers are ultra or extremely acid in CaCl2 and mineral layers are extremely or very strongly acid.

The Oi horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 0 through 4. It is slightly decomposed leaves, needles, twigs, and moss (fibric material).

The Oe horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 3, and chroma of 0 through 6. It is moderately decomposed organic matter (hemic material).

The Oa horizon is neutral or has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 0 through 2. It is highly decomposed organic matter (sapric material).

The mineral horizons have hue of 5YR through 5B, value of 2 through 7, and chroma of 1 through 3. They are A, E, Bh, Bhs, Bs, or C horizons. Texture is coarse sand, sand, loamy coarse sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction.

COMPETING SERIES: There are Clingman series in the same family. Clingman soils are from outside of region R, and they are on non-glacial landscapes.

Closely related are the Ricker series. Ricker soils have a cryic soil temperature regime.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Knob Lock soils are gently sloping to very steep soils at elevations of 500 through 3,000 feet above sea level. They are on the tops and side slopes of mountains, hills, and ridges. Slope ranges from 3 to 80 percent. The soils formed in organic deposits underlain typically by a very thin mineral horizon over bedrock. Bedrock is mostly anorthositic gneiss with smaller areas of granitic gneiss, diorite, and acidic meta-sedimentary rocks including slate, phyllite, and schist. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 863 to 1270 mm and mean annual temperature ranges from 3 to 7 degrees C. The frost-free season ranges from about 80 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Becket, Mundalite, Skerry, Worden, Tunbridge, Rawsonville, Lyman, and Hogback soils. All of these are mineral soils. The well drained Becket and Mundalite soils, the moderately well drained Skerry, and somewhat poorly drained Worden soils are on adjacent very deep to bedrock landforms and have spodic horizons. The well drained, moderately deep Rawsonville soils, and the well drained, shallow Hogback soils are on similar bedrock controlled landforms at elevations above 610 m (2000 ft) and have spodic horizons. The well drained, moderately deep Tunbridge soils, and the well drained, shallow Lyman soils are on similar bedrock controlled landforms at elevations below 610 m (2000 ft0 and have spodic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained to excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low to very high. Estimated saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high through very high throughout the soil. These soils are saturated during periods of heavy rainfall or snow melt.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded. Areas of Knob Lock soils are used for watershed protection, recreation, wildlife habitat, and forestry. Common trees include Balsam fir, red spruce, white pine, and paper birch. Northern red oak is at lower elevations in transitional areas. Blueberry and Sphagnum Moss are common ground covers.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Maine, the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and northeast Vermont. MLRA 143. The series is of small extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fulton County, New York, 2007.

REMARKS: This series was established to fill the gap to cover a frigid Udifolist when the Ricker series was reclassified to a Cryofolists.

The diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Histosols - The organic soil materials constitutes about three-fourths of the total thickness of the soil to a lithic contact and the mineral horizons have a total thickness of 5 cm (2 in) (Oe, Oa, and Bs).
2. Lithic Subgroup - Lithic contact at 23 cm (9 in).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.