LOCATION OLDMILL NY+NJ
Established Series
LAH-RBT-JTI
01/2014
OLDMILL SERIES
The Oldmill series consists of very deep, well drained soils with high saturated hydraulic conductivity. The soils are moderately deep to household garbage, construction debris and other discarded materials layered with human transported material. The soil has a mantle of human transported material from natural sources between 50 to 100 cm thick and occurs in landfills on anthropogenic landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 13 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is about 1196 mm.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, hyperthermic Typic Udorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Oldmill artifactual fine sand on a large smoothed landfill on a 3 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
^Au--0 to 5 cm; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) artifactual fine sand; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; few coarse and common very fine and fine roots throughout; 15 percent gravel-sized persistent fragments of glass, brick, and plastic; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 17 cm thick)
^Bwu--5 to 28 cm; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) artifactual fine sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots throughout; 20 percent gravel-sized persistent fragments of glass, brick, and plastic; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (13 to 38 cm thick)
^Cu1--28 to 46 cm; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) artifactual fine sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots throughout; 20 percent gravel-sized persistent fragments of glass, brick, and plastic; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
^Cu2--46 to 84 cm; yellow (2.5Y 7/6) artifactual fine sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few coarse distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent gravel-sized persistent fragments of glass, brick, and plastic; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the C horizon is 8 to 150 cm.)
^2Cu3--84 to 165 cm; black (10YR 2/1) extremely artifactual fine sand; massive; very friable; common coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; 20 percent cobble-sized nonpersistent fragments including cardboard, and paper; 40 percent cobble-sized persistent fragments including metal, bricks, concrete, and glass; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Queens County, New York: From the intersection of Cross Bay Blvd. and 165th Avenue 2500 feet west on 165th Avenue until interception with 83rd street. Enter park to the South and find the main path. Then head 250 feet to the West until intersection with other main path is met. Then 400 feet south on second main path. Then 50 feet off main path to West. Spring Creek Park, Gateway National Recreation Area; USGS Jamaica, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 38 minutes, 46.7 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 50 minutes, 50.9 seconds W. (Rockwell GPS Receiver); NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the landfill materials is generally more than 2 m. The anthropotransported material may be any geologic deposit ranging from glacial outwash, coastal plain sediments, alluvial sediment, or sediment from coastal waterways. The thickness of the human transported material cap over the upper garbage layer ranges from 50 to 100 cm. Rock fragments range from 1 to 30 percent and the texture includes loamy fine sand or coarser. Reactions in the fill cap range from extremely acid to slightly alkaline. Reaction in the garbage layers is estimated to be approximately neutral to moderately alkaline. Sea shell fragments may be present in some pedons that contain human transported dredge or coastal materials. Hue ranges from 5YR to 2.5Y throughout.
The ^Au horizon has value of 2 to 6 and chroma of 1 to 4. Typically they are structureless or have weak subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The ^Bw (if present) and ^Cu horizons have value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. Typically these layers are structureless single grain or massive or have very fine subangular blocky structure. Iron oxidation may be present. Consistence is very friable or loose.
The 2^Cu horizons have value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 1 to 3. They are massive or single grained. Consistence is very friable or loose. The 2^C layers of garbage contain anthropotransported soil and rock material as well as household waste, paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, rubber, leather, carpet, clothing, shoes, organic waste, tires, unburned coal, and plastic bags. There is a smaller component of construction materials such as gypsum board, concrete, brick, lumber, steel, and asphalt, plus small amounts of coal ash. Household objects range from gravel to stone sized, and construction materials range from gravel to boulder size. There is a distinction between material that will hold water, allow roots to penetrate, and those that will decompose versus those that will act like a rock fragment. Examples of rock like fragments are glass, plastic, rubber, tires, and construction debris (except lumber). Generally, the anthropogenic fill is similar to the soil cap over the uppermost garbage layer. Coarse fragments (natural and manufactured) range from 20 to 75 percent. Consistence is very friable to firm. Some intermittent layers or materials such as plastic act as a barrier to roots and water movement.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Oldmill soils are on nearly level to very steep modified landforms in landfills. These soils formed in a mixture of household garbage and human transported material, with a cap of human transported material that is relatively clean of refuse. The human transported material is dominantly from locally excavated materials such as alluvium, outwash, coastal plain sediments, or dredged sediments from coastal waterways. Dominant fragments are sea shells or artifacts with smaller amounts of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, basalt, and quartzite pebbles. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1021 to 1325 mm. Mean annual temperature ranges from 8 to 17 degrees C.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are
Barren,
Bigapple,
Breeze,
Centralpark,
Fortress,
Gravesend,
Greatkills,
Greenbelt, and
Jamaica, soils. Barren, Bigapple, Breeze, Centralpark, Fortress, Greenbelt, and Jamaica soils do not have garbage within the series control section. Gravesend and Greatkills soils have garbage contact within 50 cm.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: The soils are well drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low to low on vegetated slopes less than 20 percent and medium on vegetated slopes 20 percent and greater. The potential for surface runoff is one class higher where the soil is unvegetated or the surface is not protected from erosion. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is high.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are generally covered with common reed and mugwort. A few hardwoods such as black locust, tree of heaven (Ailanthus), black cherry, and boxelder become established in areas that do not burn on a frequent basis. Reclamation is unlikely in areas where the soil cap is less than two feet (60 centimeters) thick, where garbage occurs on the surface, or where common reed is unmanaged. Recreational use is also unlikely under these conditions.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils occur on anthropogenic landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. MLRAs 144A and 149B. The soils of this series are small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Queens County, New York, 2014. Series proposed Queens County, New York; 1999.
REMARKS: Oldmill soils often exhibit an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth however this is a result of anthropogenic filling (deposition) not alluvial deposition; excluding them from the concept of Fluvents. Proposed revisions to soil taxonomy in ICOMANTH Circular Letter 7 developed for anthropogenic soils will help to clarify this difference.
Redoximorphic features have inherited their colors by type of deposition and oxidation.
Manufactured objects that act like rock and coarse fragments make up more than 65 percent of the total rock fragments in the particle size control section. Human transported materials make up about one third of the volume of the soil/garbage mixture.
Lab data is not available on the garbage subsoil because of possible hazardous material content.
According to the New York City Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Hazardous Waste Remediation many landfill areas were unregulated at the time of filling and may contain chemicals that are toxic to plant roots. In addition, some areas develop anaerobic conditions in the subsoil due to methane gas emissions. Some pedons contain pockets where organic garbage has decomposed, and are subject to collapses under heavy equipment or weight.
Soil temperature data is available at the 10 centimeters and the 50 centimeters depths for a similar landfill site. A poster describing temperature investigations is referenced below. The internal soil temperature has been modified by high levels of biological activity and garbage undergoing rapid decomposition. The classification as hyperthermic is the subject of some debate but the study and lab data support the hyperthermic soil temperature classification. The area would typically be mesic.
Reference: Mount, Henry and Luis Hernandez. Temperature Signatures for Urban Soils of New York City. Poster session presented at: First International Conference on Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, and Mining Areas; 2000 Jul 12-18; Essen, Germany.
The internal soil temperature has been modified by high levels of biological activity and garbage undergoing rapid decomposition. Lab data supports the hyperthermic soil temperature classification. The area would typically be mesic.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 5 cm (^Au horizon).
2. Non-cambic pedogenic horizon - the zone from 5 to 28 cm (^Bwu horizon).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.