LOCATION LEWISBERRY PA+MD VA

Established Series
Rev. EAW
02/2022

LEWISBERRY SERIES

The Lewisberry series consists of deep and very deep, well drained soils formed in residuum from reddish, weakly cemented conglomerate, and sandstone. Slopes range from 0 to 40 percent. Permeability is moderately rapid. Mean annual precipitation is 43 inches. Mean annual temperature is 53 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Lewisberry gravelly sandy loam,in a very stony, forested area. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Oe--0 to 1 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) organic mat of partly decomposed leaves and twigs; extremely acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)

A--1 to 4 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) gravelly sandy loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; 20 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)

E--4 to 13 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; 20 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (5 to 11 inches thick)

BE--13 to 19 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; 30 percent rock fragments; very few faint clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)

Bt1--19 to 36 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) gravelly sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, slightly plastic; 30 percent rock fragments; common faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (14 to 22 inches thick)

Bt2--36 to 47 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) very gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm, sticky, slightly plastic; 45 percent rock fragments; common faint clay films on faces of peds, lining pores, and bridging sand grains; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)

C--47 to 63 inches; weak red (10R 4/3) extremely gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; 80 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)

R--63 inches; conglomerate, dusky red (10R 3/3) sandy matrix and pebbles of sandstone and water-rounded quartz.

TYPE LOCATION: York County, Pennsylvania; Fairview Township, 1.5 miles west of Silver Lake, 1.25 miles west of Lewisberry; 600 feet south of Township Route 927 and 2,700 feet west of Township Route 926.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from about 30 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 4 to 7 or more feet. Rock fragments range from 4 to 40 percent in the upper part of the solum and from 20 to 50 percent in the lower part. Rock fragments are mainly water-rounded pebbles, cobbles, and stones, from the conglomerate, of white to pink quartz ranging in diameter from 1/8 inch to more than one foot; in some places they are angular fragments of reddish sandstone. The C horizon usually contains more than 40 percent rock fragments. About 1/3 of the area is very stony phases. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the solum, usually becoming less acid in the C horizon. Base saturation increases with depth.

Areas that have been tilled or heavily grazed have an Ap horizon with hue ranging from 7.5YR through 5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is sandy loam in the fine earth-fraction.

The E horizon has hue ranging from 7.5YR through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. Textures range from loam to sandy loam in the fine earth-fraction.

B horizons have hue ranging from 5YR through 10R, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 or 4. Total thickness of the Bt horizon ranges from 18 to 30 inches. Clay content ranges from about 10 to 18 percent in the particle-size control section. The largest amount of clay is usually just above the C horizon.

C horizon characteristics are obscured by the large amounts of rock fragments. They typically have colors like the B horizon and a fine earth texture of loam, sandy loam or loamy sand.

COMPETING SERIES: The Chavies, Cranston, Highfield, and Tracy soils are in the same family. Chavies soils have less than 15 percent rock fragments in the solum. Cranston and Highfield soils have hue of 7.5YR or yellower. Tracy soils formed in glacial outwash and contain a high portion of shale fragments.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on gently sloping to steep hills and ridges. Slopes are mainly between 3 and 25 percent, but they range from 0 to 40 percent. The regolith is moderately coarse textured residuum weathered from reddish, weakly cemented, conglomerate, and sandstone. The climate is humid temperate; mean annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 48 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 50 to 55 degrees F., and the frost-free season ranges from 170 to 200 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bucks, Edgemont, Lansdale, Neshaminy, Penn, Readington, and Steinsburg series. Bucks, Edgemont, Neshaminy, Penn, and Readington soils contain more than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control sections. Edgemont, Lansdale, and Steinsburg soils do not have reddish hues and have thinner sola. Penn soils have thinner sola. Readington soils have a fragipan.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium and permeability is moderately rapid.

USE AND VEGETATION: About 40 percent is cleared and in general farm crops. Woodlands are mixed hardwoods, dominantly of oaks.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Piedmont of southeastern Pennsylvania, central New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1956.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 19 inches (A, E, and BE horizons).

b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 19 to 47 inches (Bt horizon).

2/2022 revisions: 1. Oi layer was removed from the typical pedon description because /freshly fallen, or undecomposed leaf litter or simlar undeceomposed material should not be included as a surface layer in the soil description. 2. The Oe had 1 to 0 inch depths, corrected to be 0 to 1 in horizon depths then added 1 inch to all horizon depths throughout the typical pedon. WJN

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.