LOCATION MINOA                   NY+MI NJ OH

Established Series
Rev. FZH-WEH-PSP
06/2011

MINOA SERIES


The Minoa series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in deltaic sediments. They are nearly level or gently sloping soils on lowland lake plains. Permeability is moderate in the solum, and moderate or moderately rapid in the substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent, mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 39 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystric Eutrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Minoa fine sandy loam in a idle field on a 2 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Ap -- 0 to 10 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak medium, granular structure; very friable; many roots; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick.)

Bw1 -- 10 to 14 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loamy very fine sand; very weak very fine granular structure; very friable; common roots; many pores; few fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation and few fine distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions within the matrix; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bw2 -- 14 to 22 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) loamy very fine sand; weak medium platy structure parting to weak very fine subangular blocky; firm in place, very friable when removed; few fine roots; common fine and medium pores; many medium distinct yellowish red (5YR 4/6) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4)masses of iron accumulation and faint reddish gray (5YR 5/2) iron depletions within the matrix; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 8 to 23 inches.)

BC -- 22 to 38 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loamy very fine sand; very weak medium platy structure; friable; few fine roots; few fine pores; 2 bands of lamellae, 1 inch and 2 inches thick respectively, of brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam with few medium pores that have patchy clay linings on surfaces along pores; many medium distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick.)

C -- 38 to 72 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) weakly stratified very fine and fine sand that has thin bands, 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, of brown (10YR 5/3) silt; massive; slightly firm in places, very friable when removed; common medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix that decrease in size and number with increasing depth; slightly acid at a depth of 40 inches, neutral at a depth of 50 inches, and slightly alkaline at 65 inches.

TYPE LOCATION: Onondaga County, New York; town of Manlius, 800 feet east of Fremont Road, 2,050 feet south of the New York Thruway, 500 feet north of private road, and 900 feet north of Butternut Creek. USGS Syracuse East, NY topographic quadrangle;. Latitude 43 degrees, 05 minutes, 16 seconds N. and Longitude 76 degrees, 01 minutes, 40 seconds W. NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Carbonates are at depths of 40 to 72 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments, mostly fine gravel, range from 0 to 5 percent through the soil.

The Ap horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, loamy very fine sand, very fine sandy loam, loam, or fine sandy loam. It has fine or medium granular structure, and very friable or friable consistence. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral, unless heavily limed. Unplowed areas have A and E horizons, that are 2 to 5 inches thick.

The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. It has faint or distinct redoximorphic features with chroma of 2 where matrix color has chroma greater than 2. It is silt loam through sandy loam. The Bw horizon is massive, or has granular or subangular blocky structure. It has very friable through firm consistence. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through neutral.

The BC horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, chroma of 2 through 4, and is mottled. It is silt loam through loamy very fine sand and commonly contains a few fine sandy loam and very fine sandy loam lamellae. It is massive or has very weak or weak granular, subangular blocky or platy structure. It ranges from loose to firm consistence. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through neutral.

The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4. It is silt loam through loamy fine sand, above 40 inches with thin lamellae ranging from silty clay to fine sand. Some pedons are fine sand through silty clay below depths of 40 inches. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through moderately alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: The Bomoseen series is the only competing series in the same family. Bomoseen soils formed in till and have more than 5 percent rock fragments.

Canandaigua, Galen, Junius, Kibbie, Lamson, Metamora, Mino, Morocco, Munson, Niagara, Raynham, Stafford, Tedrow, Wallington, Walpole, Wareham, and Williamson are similar soils in related families. Canandaigua and Niagara soils have fine silty particle-size control sections. In addition, Niagara soils have an argillic horizon. Galen soils have sufficient lamellae to have an argillic horizon. Junius, Morocco, Stafford, Tedrow, Walpole, and Wareham soils have sandy particle-size control sections. Kibbie and Metamora soils have argillic horizons. Lamson soils have chroma of 0 or 1 on the faces of peds or in the soil matrix immediately below the Ap or A horizon. Mino soils are frigid. Munson, Raynham, Wallington, and Williamson soils have coarse silty particle-size control sections. In addition, Wallington and Williamson soils have a fragipan.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Minoa soils occupy nearly level or gently sloping deltas of former glacial lakes. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. The regolith is dominated by very fine sandy containing small quantities of clay and moderate amounts of weatherable primary minerals. The mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 53 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 50 inches, and the mean growing season ranges from 140 to 200 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the well drained Arkport, the moderately well drained Galen, and the poorly drained and very poorly drained Lamson soils that are in a drainage sequence with Minoa. The Claverack, Cosad, Granby, Junius, Niagara, Odessa, Raynham, Rhinebeck, Stafford, Wallington, Walpole, and Wareham soils also formed in glacial-lacustrine deposits. Claverack and Cosad soils formed in sandy deposits overlying clayey lake sediments Granby, Junius, Stafford, Walpole, and Wareham soils contain more sand in the substratum with textures of loamy fine sand or coarser. Niagara, Raynham, and Wallington soils formed in silty deposits. In addition, Wallington soils contain a fragipan. Odessa and Rhinebeck soils formed in clayey lacustrine sediments.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low to very high. Permeability is moderate in the solum, and moderate or moderately rapid in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared. Areas remaining in cultivation are pastured or are used to grow hay, small grains, corn, beans, and truck crops. A considerable acreage is reverting to brush and woodland, supporting dogwoods and other shrubs. Aspen, white ash, cherry, white pine, Northern whitecedar, Eastern redcedar, red and sugar maple, and hemlock dominate in existing woodlands.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Erie-Ontario plain and Mohawk, Hudson, and St. Lawrence valleys of New York, Champlain valley of New York and the lake plains of Ohio, Michigan, and New Jersey. MLRAs 98, 99, 101, 139, 140, 142, 144A, and 148. The series is moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts

SERIES ESTABLISHED: St. Clair County, Michigan, 1969.

REMARKS: Excluded from the series are soils previously called Minoa, which are calcareous at depths of less than 40 inches and which are currently unclassified. Such areas have been correlated as taxadjuncts. Chroma of 2 in the matrix of the Bw horizon is believed to be inherited colors.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 10 to 22 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Eutrudepts great group - base saturation greater than 60 percent (by NH40Ac) in some subhorizon between depths of 10 and 30 inches (Bw2 and BC horizons).
d. Aquic Dystric subgroup - redoximorphic features with chroma of 2 or less within the upper 24 inches of the soil and lack of free carbonates within 40 inches of the soil surface.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.