LOCATION LAIRDSVILLE NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, illitic, mesic Oxyaquic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Lairdsville gravelly silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) gravelly silt loam; strong fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; 20 percent coarse fragments; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick.)
2BE-- 7 to 12 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silty clay loam; strong coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; many fine roots on faces of peds, few in interiors; common 1/4 inch vertical pores; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) silty coats 1 millimeter thick on vertical faces of peds; 5 percent coarse fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
2Bt1-- 12 to 18 inches, reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) clay; strong coarse angular blocky structure; very firm; plastic; common fine roots on faces of peds, few in interiors; common fine vertical pores; reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) clay coats are distinct on vertical and horizontal faces of peds; common light olive gray (5Y 6/2) and pale olive (5Y 6/4) weathered shale fragments; 1 percent hard coarse fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary.
2Bt2-- 18 to 30 inches; weak red (2.5YR 4/2) silty clay; strong coarse angular blocky structure; very firm; few fine roots on faces of peds; common fine vertical pores; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay coats are distinct on vertical and horizontal faces of peds; common light olive gray (5Y 6/2) and pale olive (5Y 6/4) weathered shale fragments; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the 2Bt is 13 to 32 inches.)
2Cr-- 30 to 40 inches; weak red (2.5YR 4/2) shale bedrock, readily cut with spade; calcareous; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Cayuga County, New York. North side of Ditmar Road, 400 feet east of Route 34. USGS Weedsport, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 4 minutes, 39 seconds N. and Longitude 76 degrees, 33 minutes, 21 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches and commonly corresponds with solum thickness. Coarse fragments, dominantly shale but including varying amounts of sandstone and limestone, range from 0 to 35 percent. Some hard gravel is usually present, but is not conspicuous except locally on the surface.
The Ap horizon has hues of 5YR to 10YR, values of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. It is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam and gravelly or channery analogues. It has granular or fine subangular blocky structure. Consistence is friable or firm. It has neutral to moderately acid reaction. Undisturbed areas may have an A or an E horizon.
The Bt or 2Bt horizons have hues of 10R to 10YR, values of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 6, but have hues of 5YR or redder below a depth of 20 inches. Few or common faint mottles of higher chroma than the matrix are allowed in the lower part. Subhorizons of the B horizon are heavy clay loam, heavy silty clay loam, silty clay or clay averaging between 35 and 60 percent clay. Silt coats are present in the upper 3 to 6 inches of the B horizon. Distinct clay coats are present on both the vertical and horizontal faces of peds in the lower part. Structure is moderate or strong fine to coarse angular or subangular blocky to moderate or strong medium prismatic. They are moderately acid to slightly alkaline and the lower part is allowed to be calcareous.
Some pedons have a thin C or 2C horizon between the B horizon and R horizon. It is similar in color to the B horizon, but has is massive or has weak plate-like divisions. It is neutral to moderately alkaline, and may be calcareous.
The Cr or 2Cr is dominantly a shale that is readily cut with a spade. It is usually calcareous.
Some pedons have an R or 2R horizon that is dominantly shale, but includes sandstone, siltstone, limestone or dolomite. It is extremely hard and difficult to cut with a spade.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alexandria, Brushcreek, Lucas, Morley, Ozaukee, Schoharie, and St. Clair series. The Alexandria, Brushcreek, Lucas, Morley, Schoharie, Ozaukee, and St. Clair soils all have bedrock (Cr or R horizons) at depths of more than 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Lairdsville soils are nearly level to steep soils on uniform bedrock-controlled landforms. Slope ranges from 0 to 45 percent. The soil formed principally in clayey till or congeliturbate dominated by neutral to alkaline reddish clay-rich shale, but reddish lake deposits are included. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 45 inches; mean annual temperature from 46 degrees to 50 degrees F.; and mean annual growing season from 135 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the wetter Lockport soils, the coarser textured Hilton, Cazenovia, and Lima soils, and the yellower Riga soils.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well to well drained. The potential for surface runoff is moderate to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mineral surface and low to moderately low in the subsoil and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and idle or used for growing wheat, hay and pasture. Native vegetation consists of oak, hard maple, beech, basswood, ash, black cherry and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ontario plain and Mohawk Valley of western and central New York. MLRA 101. The soil is not extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Madison County, New York, 1955.
REMARKS: This series has a Cr or R horizon between 20 and 40 inches. As originally defined this was an R horizon, but the easily cut with a spade reference makes this a Cr by modern standard. This leaves the series undefined as to whether an R horizon must occur or not. This series competes with others on the basis of having bedrock above 40 inches. Work is required in the MLRA update process to determine the hardness required of the bedrock to compete with the other series.
It is likely that this series should be in the mixed mineralogy family and not the illitic. Work is required in the MLRA update process to determine if this is true.
This series reclassified to Oxyaquic based on interpretive information on the water table.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - 0 to 12 inches. (Ap)
2. Argillic horizon - 12 to 30 inches. (2Bt1 and 2Bt2)