LOCATION MOOERS NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, frigid Oxyaquic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Mooers loamy sand within a nearly level hay field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted).
Ap-- 0 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loamy sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium granular structure; friable; many fine and very fine roots; neutral (limed); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 8 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sand; few medium faint silt coatings; single grain; loose; many very fine roots; neutral; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 20 to 31 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sand; single grain; loose; few very fine roots; common fine and medium, distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) soft masses of iron accumulation; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bw horizons is 12 to 30 inches.)
BC-- 31 to 47 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) fine sand; single grain; loose; few very fine roots; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and common medium faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) soft masses of iron accumulation; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 25 inches thick.)
2C1-- 47 to 49 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loamy very fine sand; massive; friable; few very fine roots; many fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) soft masses of iron accumulation and common fine faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.
2C2-- 49 to 60 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and 10 percent brown (10YR 4/3) loamy very fine sand; massive; friable; many fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of iron accumulation and many course and medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of 2C horizons is 0 to 20 inches.)
3C-- 60 to 72 inches, 70 percent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2), 30 percent brown (10YR 5/3) fine sand; moderate thin and medium bands of loamy very fine sand and silt loam; single grain; loose; slightly effervescent, slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Clinton County, New York; in the town of Beekmantown, 0.4 mile south of junction of U.S. Route 9 and Point Au Roche Road, then about 2300 feet west of Route 9; USGS Beekmantown, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 46 minutes, 13 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 25 minutes, 56 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 22 to 55 inches. Depth to carbonates is greater than 50 inches. Redoximorphic features consisting of masses of iron accumulation occur between 18 and 30 inches of the soil surface. Redoximorphic depletions may also be present, but are restricted to below 40 inches from the soil surface. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments are typically absent, but may range up to 2 percent by volume in the lower subsoil and substratum. Unless limed, reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid in the surface, and from moderately acid to slightly alkaline in the subsoil and substratum.
The Ap or A horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is sand, fine sand, loamy sand or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. The A horizon is 2 to 5 inches thick.
The Bw horizons have hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Faint to prominent redoximorphic concentrations occur between 18 and 30 inches. Texture is sand, fine sand, loamy sand or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or it is single grain. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The BC horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5 and chroma of 3 or 4. It typically has faint to prominent redoximorphic concentrations or depletions. Texture is sand or fine sand in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak subangular blocky or it is single grain.
The C, 2C, and 3C, if present, horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. They typically have faint to prominent redoximorphic concentrations or depletions. Texture is sand, fine sand or loamy fine sand in the fine earth fraction; but 2C horizons can have loamy very fine sand or silt loam textures below a depth of 40 inches. It is massive, with or without plate-like divisions, or single grain.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Crex, Duck (T), Lenroot, Pelkie, Seulchoix (T), Sissabagama, Sunia, Tourtillotte, and Wurtsmith series. All of these series are outside of Region R. Crex, Tourtillotte, and Wurtsmith soils are more than 15 percent less productive due to climatic differences. Duck (T) and Sunia soils have a loamy mantle. Lenroot soils have over 15 percent rock fragments in the particle size control section. Pelkie soils formed on floodplains and have an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth. Seulchoix (T) soils do not have a description on file to compete. Sissabagama soils have lamellae.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Mooers soil are nearly level and gently sloping soils on glacial lake plains, outwash plains and terraces, stream terraces, and beach deposits. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent, but are dominantly 0 to 4 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 50 inches, mean annual air temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degrees F, and the mean frost-free season ranges from 90 to 150 days. Elevation ranges from 200 to 2000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the somewhat poorly drained Sciota(T) and the poorly drained Deinache(T) soils which are associated in a drainage sequence. Croghan, Deerfield, Flackville, Kalurah and Coveytown soils are also associated. Croghan soils are on identical landscapes but have spodic horizon development. Deerfield soils occur along the frigid-mesic boundary. Flackville soils are on similar landscapes but have clayey substrata within a 20 to 40 inch depth. Kalurah soils are loamy till soil on slightly higher ridges. Coveytown soils occur near the toe of glacial lake beach ridges where sands are underlain by loamy deposits.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low or low. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high or very high throughout the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are used for growing hay or silage corn. Areas remaining in forest contain eastern white pine, white birch and sugar maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Champlain Valley and Adirondack Region of Northern New York. MLRA 142 and 143. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clinton County, New York 1995.
REMARKS: Because of recent changes to Soil Taxonomy this soil now falls into the new suborder of Oxyaquic. Productivity differences based on data in NASIS for the series.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2) Particle-size class - averages sandy in the control section from 10 to 40 inches.
3) Noncambic pedogenic horizon - the zone from 8 to 31 inches (Bw horizons).
4) Oxyaquic subgroup - evidence of water saturation within 40 inches of the soil surface.
5) Redoximorphic features - masses of iron accumulation, or areas of iron depletion (Bw2, BC, 2C1, and 2C2 horizons).