LOCATION PAUPACK PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, dysic, mesic Terric Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Paupack mucky peat, wooded. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise specified)
Oe-- 0 to 3 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed hemic material(mucky peat); 75 percent fiber unrubbed, 35 percent rubbed; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable, moderately smeary; common very fine and fine roots throughout; extremely acid (pH 4.0); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick.)
Oa1-- 3 to 26 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed sapric material (muck); 35 percent fibers unrubbed, 8 percent fibers rubbed; massive; friable, smeary; few very fine and fine roots throughout; extremely acid (pH 4.0); gradual smooth boundary. (18 to 30 inches thick.)
Oa2-- 26 to 36 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed very stony sapric material (muck); 35 percent fiber unrubbed, 8 percent rubbed; massive; friable, smeary; 55 percent sandstones; extremely acid (pH 4.0), pH 3.33 in CaCl2; abrupt irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 26 to 42 inches.)
Cg-- 36 to 70 inches; greenish gray (5GY 5/1) extremely stony sandy loam; massive; friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; 65 percent sandstones; very strongly acid (pH 5.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Pike County, Pennsylvania; Shohola Township, in State Gamelands 209; 500 feet from bar gate to left turn on grassed road, 4500 feet west along gamelands road, 200 feet south at lone oak tree to stream in a hemlock grove; Pond Eddy, PA USGS topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 23 minutes, 41 seconds N. Longitude 74 degrees, 50 minutes, 44 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to the C horizon typically ranges from 20 to 45 inches, but can range from 16 to 51 inches. Some pedons have layers of mucky peat within the sapric material of the subsurface and bottom tiers. The combined thickness of the hemic material is less than 10 inches. The fibers are derived mostly from woody fragments. Coarse woody fragments range from less than 1 percent to 20 percent by volume. The reaction ranges from ultra acid to extremely acid throughout the organic layers and from extremely acid to strongly acid in the C horizon.
The surface tier has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, or neutral, and chroma of 0 to 2 on broken face and rubbed. Rubbed fiber content is less than 10 percent by volume.
The subsurface tier has hue of 2.5YR or 10YR, or neutral; value of 2 or 3; and chroma of 0 to 3 on broken face and rubbed. The structure of this layer is typically massive, but can contain moderate coarse granular, blocky, or platy structure in varying degrees.
The bottom tier where apparent has similar colors of the subsurface tier. The structure is massive and can have up to 15 percent mineral material by volume.
The Cg horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5GY, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 2. It ranges from fine sandy loam, sandy loam, silt loam or loam. Rock fragments range from 35 to 65 percent by volume from the top of the mineral soil to a depth of 70 inches. There can be layers of sandy loams with less than 35 percent rock fragments that combine for no more than 15 inches thick. Some pedons have buried organic layers within the Cg, and other Cg horizons can be dense basal till.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils within this family.
Close relatives of this series are Andersontown, Manahawkin, and Swansea soils. Anderson soils have organic materials less than 51 inches deep over loamy mineral material. Manahawkin soils are over either sandy or sandy-skeletal siliceous mineral material, and Swansea are organics over sandy or sandy-skeletal material. Palms and Linwood are soils in related families with Euic reactions.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Paupack soils are on lake plains, till plains, moraines, or behind glacially blocked drainageways. They have formed in shallow lakes or ponds that range in size from 5 to 100 acres or more. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches and is evenly distributed throughout the year. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F., and the growing season ranges from 110 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Edgemere and Shohola soils are mineral soils in nearby drainageways. Swartswood, Wurtsboro, and Morris soils are mineral soils on uplands.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Paupack soils are very poorly drained and ponded. Runoff is very slow to ponded. Permeability is moderately slow to moderately rapid in the organic material and moderate or moderately slow in the underlying mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are wooded with Hemlocks, Black Spruce, White Pine, High Bush Blueberry, Tamerack, and Rhododendron.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Pennsylvania and possible in Southern New York, eastern Pennsylvania, and Central Pennsylvania. The Series is of limited extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pike County, Pennsylvania, 1995.
REMARKS: Lab data is from the DDRP Acid Rain study for Pennsylvania and sample S92PA-103-002 that shows a pH in CaCl2 of 3.33.
Diagnostic Horizons and features:
Terric subgroup: Organic material from the surface to 36 inches(Oe,Oa1,Oa2 horizons).
Mineral material is from 36 to 70 inches.