LOCATION KREAMER PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, mesic Aquic Hapludults
TYPICAL PEDON: Kreamer gravelly silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, plastic; 20 percent chert fragments; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
BA--9 to 12 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very gravelly silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; few faint clay films lining pores; 40 percent chert fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--12 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) cherty silty clay; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky and plastic; common thin clay films lining pores; few black manganese coatings on ped faces; 30 percent chert fragments; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)
Bt2--21 to 40 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay; moderate coarse angular blocky structure; firm, sticky, plastic; many faint clay films on ped faces; common medium distinct light gray (10YR 7/2) iron depletions and common coarse black manganese coatings on ped faces; 15 percent chert fragments; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (17 to 25 inches thick)
Bt3--40 to 60 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) gravelly clay; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thick platy; firm, sticky, plastic; many faint clay films on horizontal surfaces of platy peds; common medium distinct light gray (10YR 7/2) iron depletions in the matrix and on prism faces and common coarse black coatings on plates; 15 percent chert fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)
C--60 to 66 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) gravelly silty clay; massive; firm, sticky, plastic; few faint clay films on chert fragments; 25 percent chert fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Perry County, Pennsylvania; Greenwood Township, 1 mile east and 1/2 mile north of intersection of U.S. 322 and PA 17 in Borough of Millerstown, 50 feet east of land adjoining high school athletic field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 80 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches but is dominantly greater than 72 inches. Rock fragments, dominantly chert but with some sandstone and shale, range from less than 5 to 50 percent by volume in individual horizons of the solum and C horizon. The soil ranges from neutral to very strongly acid in the upper part of the solum is strongly and or very strongly acid in the lower part of the solum and in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of l0YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Fine-earth texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8 in the upper part. The lower part has same colors but the hue includes 5YR. Prism faces in the middle and lower parts of the B horizon have iron depletions that are commonly gray, grayish brown or light brownish gray. Few to many iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less are at depths of 18 to 35 inches. Some pedons have individual B horizons with matrix color of 2 chroma or less, but these horizons are deeper than 18 inches. Fine-earth texture of the B horizon is silty clay loam, silty clay, clay loam, or clay. Structure is commonly weak or moderate, medium or coarse subangular blocky or angular blocky in the upper part. The middle and lower parts of the B horizon also often have medium to very coarse prismatic and medium and coarse platy structure.
The C horizon is similar to the B horizon in color and texture.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family. Fawcett soil were formerly in the same family, but have been made inactive.
Cavode, Cruze, Flatwoods, Grassland (T), Halifax (T), Lackstown (T) and Latham soils are in similar families, but have mixed mineralogy. Cavode soils formed in residuum from gray and yellow acid shale and siltstone and have redox features within 18 inches of the surface. Cruze, Flatwoods and Latham soils formed in residuum or colluvium dominated by shale and siltstone. Flatwoods and Latham soils are moderately deep to shale or siltstone bedrock. Grassland and Halifax soils formed in residuum from igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks and have rock fragments that are dominantly these types. Lackstown soils formed from residuum from Triassic age sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and shale and have rock fragments that are dominantly these types.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kreamer soils are on nearly level to gently sloping concave hillsides with slope gradients up to 15 percent. The soils developed in fine and moderately fine textured colluvium or glacial drift derived from limestone and cherty limestone. The climate is humid temperate. The mean annual air temperature ranges from 47 to 57 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 48 inches, and the frost-free season ranges from 150 to 210 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Other soils in the same landscape include Elliber, Evendale, Hagerstown, Mertz and Morrison. Elliber, Mertz and Morrison soils have less than 35 percent clay and do not have redoximorphic features within the upper 24 inches of the argillic horizon. Evendale soils have redoximorphic features throughout the upper portion of the argillic horizon. Hagerstown soils do not have redoximorphic features within the upper 24 inches of the argillic horizon. Additionally, Evendale, Hagerstown and Morrison soils have a higher base saturation in the lower part of the subsoil or substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Permeability class is moderately slow in the upper part of the solum and slow in the lower part and in the substratum. Runoff class is low on nearly level areas and ranges to high on strongly sloping areas.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cultivated and in general farm crops. Wooded areas are in mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Ridge and Valley sections of Pennsylvania. The series is of moderate extent. Pennsylvania has about 20,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Union County, Pennsylvania, 1940.
REMARKS: The 2/2002 revision updates this series to 8th edition Keys to Soil Taxonomy standards. Redoximorphic feature terminology and competing series were also updated at this time.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 9 to 60 inches (BA, Bt1, Bt2 and Bt3 horizons).
c. Aquic subgroup criteria - redox depletions with chroma of 2 or less and redox concentrations within the upper 24 inches of the argillic horizon.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data are available for three pedons; two in Perry County, Pennsylvania - S70PA50-13 and S70PA50-15; and one in Snyder County, Pennsylvania - S69PA55-06.
MLRA: 147
Revised: 1/87-DGG,IWR,ADK; 2/2002-DHK