LOCATION OTEGO NY+OH PA
Established Series
Rev. ERS-JDV-JRS
05/2025
OTEGO SERIES
The Otego series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in post-glacial alluvium derived mainly from regolith containing sandstone, siltstone, and shale and are on flood plain steps on flood plains near till plateaus and glacial outwash terraces. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderate to moderately high. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 9 degrees C., and mean annual precipitation is about 1100 millimeters.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Otego silt loam, on a 1 percent slope in a cornfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap -- 0 to 33 centimeters; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine granular structure; friable; common medium and fine roots; neutral (limed); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 33 centimeters thick.)
Bw1 -- 33 to 64 centimeters; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; many medium and coarse tubular and many fine and medium vesicular pores; many fine prominent grayish brown (10YR 5/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; few fine prominent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2 -- 64 to 89 centimeters; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium and fine subangular blocky; very friable; common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) areas iron depletion in the matrix; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 23 to 89 centimeters.)
C1 -- 89 to 152 centimeters; gray (5Y 6/1) silt loam; massive; friable; common medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and many coarse prominent brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
C2 -- 152 to 183 centimeters; gray (5Y 6/1) loam with thin lenses of silt; massive; friable; 5 percent rock fragments; many coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) and many coarse prominent reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; massive; friable; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the C horizons is 0 to 94 centimeters thick.)
2C -- 183 to 203 centimeters; multicolored very gravelly sandy loam; massive; non sticky and non-plastic; 45 percent rock fragments; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Otsego County, New York; Town of Oneonta, about 1,000 feet east of the intersection of Pony Farm Road and NY Route 7, and 1,500 feet south of Pony Farm Road. USGS Oneonta, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 25 minutes, 54 seconds N. and Longitude 75 degrees, 07 minutes, 10 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 60 to 120 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is greater than 150 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent in the surface layer and subsoil, from 0 to 15 percent in the substratum above 40 inches, and from 0 to 50 percent below 100 centimeters. Rock fragments are dominantly gravel and cobbles. Unless limed, reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the surface layer, subsoil, and in the upper part of the substratum; and from strongly acid to neutral in the lower part of the substratum.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4 (6 or 7 dry), and chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loam, silt loam, or very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse, granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable.
In some pedons a thin E horizon is present with hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is silt loam or fine sandy loam. Structure is granular, platy, or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Iron depletions with chroma 2 or less are present in some part between a depth of 30 to 60 centimeters. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse, subangular blocky or weak very coarse prismatic. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BC horizon with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 6. Texture is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. In some pedons thin strata of fine sandy loam or loamy fine sand are below 100 centimeters. Structure is weak, coarse or very coarse, subangular blocky, or is massive. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The C horizon, if present, has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 8. Texture is silt loam, loam, or very fine sandy loam. In some pedons thin strata of fine sandy loam or loamy fine sand are below 100 centimeters. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The 2C horizon, if present, is massive or single grained with hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 8, or it is multicolored. Texture ranges from loam to very gravelly loamy sand and, in some pedons, is stratified. Consistence is loose to friable, and non-sticky and non-plastic.
COMPETING SERIES:
Winooski is the only other series in this family. Winooski soils formed in alluvium derived from igneous and meta-igneous lithology.
Arkaqua,
Bash,
Basher,
Codorus,
Cornish,
Hamplain,
Lovewell,
Pootatuck,
Philo, and
Rowland series are similar soils in related families. Arkaqua, Codorus, and Rowland soils have fine-loamy particle size control sections. Cornish and Lovewell soils are frigid. Bash, Basher, Pootatuck, and Philo soils have coarse-loamy particle size control sections. Hamplain soils do not have low chroma mottles within 24 inches of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Otego soils formed in post-glacial alluvium derived mainly from regolith containing sandstone, siltstone, and shale and are on flood plain steps on flood plains near till plateaus and glacial outwash terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 7 to 10 degrees C., mean annual precipitation ranges from 1000 to 1250 millimeters, and mean annual frost-free days ranges from 130 to 198 days. Elevation ranges from 175 to 425 meters above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Bath,
Chenango,
Hamplain,
Mardin,
Scio,
Trestle,
Tunkhannock,
Unadilla,
Valois,
Wakeville and
Wayland soils. Otego soils are the moderately well drained member of a drainage sequence that includes the well drained Hamplain soils, the somewhat poorly drained Wakeville soils, and the poorly drained and very poorly drained Wayland soils. Well drained and somewhat excessively drained Chenango and Tunkhannock soils are on nearby glacial outwash terraces. Unadilla and Scio soils are on adjacent higher lacustrine or old alluvial terraces and plains. Well drained Trestle soils are on adjacent floodplain areas that are gravelly in the subsoil and substratum. Bath, Mardin, and Valois soils are on nearby till uplands.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to low. Permeability is moderate in the solum and upper substratum, and moderate or moderately rapid in the lower substratum. Depth to an intermittent apparent seasonal high water table ranges from 46 to 60 centimeters from December to April in normal years. Otego soils are subject to frequent flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are cleared and are used for growing corn for silage, small grains, hay, and pasture. A few areas have reverted to woodland or brush. Native vegetation is sugar maple, white ash, and willows. Brushy areas often contain dogwoods, willows, spirea, Hawthorne (thorn apple), and poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and southern New York, northeastern Ohio, and northwestern Pennsylvania. MLRA 101, 139, and 140. The series is moderately extensive.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Oneida County, New York, 1993.
REMARKS: This series is the low base saturation equivalent of the Teel series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 33 centimeters (Ap horizon).
Cambic horizon - the zone from 33 to 89 centimeters (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
Aquic subgroup - evidenced by low chroma mottles within 60 centimeters of the soil surface (Bw1 horizon) Udic moisture regime.
This revision reflects a change in taxonomic classification from Coarse-silty, mixed, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrochrepts to Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts due to updates contained in the 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Cornell University Soil Survey Laboratory base saturation data is available for this pedon (84-29), and other pedons from Otsego County, New York. Characterization data is available from Ashtabula County, Ohio. Refer to pedon AB-127, sample numbers 26862 to 26870; samples analyzed by the Ohio State University Soil Characterization Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.