LOCATION MATOON NY
Established Series
Rev. SCC-FLG-ERS-GWS
10/2015
MATOON SERIES
The Matoon series consists of moderately deep, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in fine sediments deposited in marine environments. They are in marine basins where the underlying bedrock is 20 to 40 inches below the soil surface. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual temperature is 7 degrees C, and mean annual precipitation is 1000 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, frigid Aeric Endoaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Matoon silty clay loam, on a 2 percent concave northeast-facing slope in a hayfield. (colors are for moist soils unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 20 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay loam, gray (10YR 6/1) dry; moderate very fine, fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and few medium roots; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 25 cm thick)
BEg--20 to 30 cm; dark gray (10YR 4/1) and gray (10YR 5/1) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium roots; many fine vesicular pores, few fine and medium tubular pores; few faint silt linings in tubular pores; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) faces of peds; many (50 percent) fine and medium strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron oxides; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)
Btg1--30 to 41 cm; gray (10YR 5/1) silty clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; common fine and few medium roots; few very fine, fine, and medium vesicular pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; dark gray (10YR 4/1) and gray (10YR 5/1) faces of peds; many fine and medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) and brown (7.5YR 5/4) areas of iron oxide accumulation; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Btg2--41 to 69 cm; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium subangular blocky; firm; few fine and medium roots; few fine and medium vesicular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 1 percent rock fragments; few fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) areas of iron oxide accumulations; slightly effervescent, slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 25 to 76 cm.)
2R--69 cm; sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: St. Lawrence County, New York; Town of Morristown, 200 feet northeast of a point on Old Mills Road that is 200 feet from the junction of New York Rt. 37; USGS Morristown, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 44 degrees, 32 minutes, 50 seconds N. and longitude 75 degrees, 39 minutes, 49 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum thickness ranges from 41 to 102 cm. Depth to bedrock ranges from 51 to 102 cm. Carbonates are common in the horizon above the bedrock. Rock fragments, mostly gravel or cobbles, range from 0 to 2 percent in the A and upper B horizons and from 0 to 20 percent in the lower part of the B horizon and in the C horizon. Reaction is slightly acid or neutral in the surface layer, neutral or slightly alkaline in the subsoil, and neutral to moderately alkaline where the substratum is present.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, or silty clay.
The BE horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, or silty clay.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.
Some pedons have a C horizon that has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 1 or 2. This horizon commonly is silty clay loam, silty clay, clay, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction, and less commonly is varved with silt and very fine sand. Some pedons have a thin layer of Saprolite above the rock. Reaction ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline.
The 2R horizon is sandstone, dolomitic sandstone, or limestone bedrock.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Schaat Creek series is the only member of the same family. Schaat Creek soils are very deep, poorly drained, and formed in recent alluvium.
The
Muskellunge series are in a related family. Muskellunge soils are deeper than 60 inches to bedrock and have epi saturation.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Matoon soils are in moderately low areas on marine plains, where flat bedded limestone or sandstone bedrock is 51 to 102 cm below the soil surface. Slopes range from 0 to 8 percent. These soils formed in marine deposits with a high clay content. Mean annual temperature ranges from 4 to 9 degrees C.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 790 to 1490 mm; and the frost-free period ranges from 100 to 160 days. The elevation ranges from 50 to 150 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Adjidaumo,
Guff,
Heuvelton,
Insula,
Muskellunge,
Nehasne,
Ogdensburg, and
Summerville series. The very deep Adjidaumo and the moderately deep Guff soils are in shallow wet depressions and do not have an argillic horizon. Heuvelton soils are on knolls and are very deep to bedrock. Muskellunge soils are on similar landscape positions but are very deep to bedrock. Insula and Summerville soils are on adjacent benches or terraces and are shallow to bedrock. Nehasne soils are on higher topographic positions and have coarser textures. Ogdensburg soils are in similar topographic positions but have coarser textures.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is very high or high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately low or moderately high in the surface, subsurface, and subsoil horizons, and low or moderately low in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used to grow hay, small grain and corn in support of dairy farming. Some areas have reverted to brush or forest land. Tree species are red maple, red oak, white pine, white ash, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: St. Lawrence Valley of New York and possibly the Champlain Plain of New York and Vermont. MLRA 142. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: St. Lawrence County, New York, 1986. Source of the name is a small settlement in southeastern St. Lawrence County.
REMARKS: Original classification placed Matoon as a Ochraqualf, but because of changes in the 5th edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy this soil now classifies into the great group of Endoaqualfs. Some competing series may change as similar soils are reclassified.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 30 cm (Ap and BEg horizons).
2) Argillic horizon - from 30 to 69 cm (Btg1 and Btg2 horizons).
3) Aqualfs suborder - as evidenced by low chroma, reduced ped faces and/or matrices and redoximorphic features in the upper part of the argillic horizon (Btg1 horizon)
4) Aeric subgroup - from 20 to 30 cm as evidenced by a subhorizon within 76 cm of the soil surface that has dominant (50 percent or more) chroma of 3 or more with redoximorphic features present (BEg horizon)
Soil Interpretation Record: NY0359
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.