LOCATION LINDEN PA+WVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Fluventic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Linden loam - cultivated (unlimed). (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; few roots; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
BA--9 to 15 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; few roots; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--15 to 31 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; few roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 22 inches thick)
BC--31 to 37 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sandy loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
C1--37 to 52 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sandy loam; massive; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
C2--52 to 64 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) loamy sand stratified with this lenses of brown coarse sand and reddish brown sandy loam; loose; no roots; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Lycoming County, Pennsylvania; Piatt Township, 2 miles southwest of village of Linden, about one mile southeast of intersection of U.S. 220 and Pine Run Road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 24 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is generally more than 6 feet. Rock fragments of gravel size range from 0 to 10 percent in the A and Bw horizons; from 0 to 25 percent in the BC and C horizons above 40 inches and from 0 to 80 percent in the C horizons below 40 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid throughout the soil where unlimed.
The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 through 4. Dry value is 6 or more undisturbed pedons have thin dark A horizon and some pedons have an E horizon. A horizon texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The B horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 7.5YR, value from 3 through 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. Some pedons have low chroma mottles below a depth of 30 inches. Texture of the B horizons is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The C horizon is similar in color to the B horizon with hues ranging to 10YR. The C horizon textures range from loam to sand loam above 40 inches and sandy loam to sand in the fine-earth fraction below 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: The Comus, Occum and Pope series are members of the same family all of which have hues of 7.5YR or yellower in the sola.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Linden soils are on nearly level floodplains and are subject to stream overflow. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. They have formed in alluvial sediments washed from nearby uplands that are underlain by red and brown shales, sandstones, and in some areas, conglomerate. The climate is humid temperature. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 45 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 55 degrees F; and the frost-free season ranges from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Atkins, Barbour, Basher, and Holly soils are associates on the floodplain. Calvin, Klinesville, Lackawanna, Leck Kill, and Oquaga soils are on nearly uplands. Birdsboro and Tunkhannock are common associates on terraces. Atkins and Holly soils have chroma of 2 or less dominant immediately below the A horizon. Barbour soils have a contrasting family particle-size class. Basher soils have mottles within 24 inches. Calvin and Oquaga soils have bedrock within 40 inches. Klinesville soils have bedrock within 20 inches. Birdsboro and Leck Kill soils have argillic horizons. Lackawanna soils have a fragipan and Tunkhannock soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained with slow runoff. Permeability above 40 inches is moderately rapid and rapid below 40 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely cleared and in cropland or pasture. Wooded areas are in mixed hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 1974.
REMARKS: The soils in the Linden series were formerly included with Barbour soils in mapping, as soils without contrasting particle-size classes above a 40 inch depth. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 15 inches (Ap and BA horizons).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 15 inches to a depth of about 31 inches (Bw horizon).