LOCATION PALATINE NY VTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Palatine silt loam - hay. (Colors are for moist soil unless specified otherwise.)
Ap-- 0 to 11 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate medium granular structure; friable; many roots; 10 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick.)
Bw-- 11 to 18 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) channery silt loam; weak medium and fine granular structure; friable; many roots; few clay films in pores; 25 percent rock fragments, mainly soft shale; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 23 inches thick.)
C-- 18 to 28 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very channery silt loam; massive; friable; common roots; 50 percent rock fragments, mainly black shale arranged in bedding planes; calcareous; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 12 inches thick.)
2R-- 28 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) calcareous shale bedrock; few roots in upper part.
TYPE LOCATION: Montgomery County, New York; Town of Minden; 200 yards north of New York Route 5S, 1/4 mile west of Sanders Road. USGS Fort Plain, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 58 minutes, 10 seconds N. and Longitude 74 degrees, 41 minutes, 18 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 15 to 30 inches. Depth to shale bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments in the mineral soil, dominantly black shale, range from none to 35 percent in the A horizon, from none to 50 percent in the B horizon and from 35 to 60 percent in the C horizon. Depth to free carbonates commonly ranges from 12 to 30 inches, but some pedons have carbonates only at the bedrock interface.
The Ap horizons has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or is neutral, values of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium, granular or subangular or angular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.
The B horizons have color hues of 10YR or 2.5Y, values of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak to strong, fine to coarse, granular, subangular, or angular blocky. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.
The C horizons have a hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or is neutral, values of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. It is massive, though it may appear platy due to rock structure. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
Some pedons have a Cr or 2Cr horizon up to 10 inches thick that may extend below 40 inches.
The bedrock is dark calcareous shale high in carbon and weathers rapidly to silt loam when exposed.
COMPETING SERIES: The Sharondale is the only series in the same family. Sharondale soils are very deep to bedrock and have a warmer climate.
The Aurora, Galway, Herkimer, Mohawk, and Wassaic series are similar soils in related families. Aurora, Mohawk, and Wassaic soils have argillic horizons. Galway and Herkimer series lack mollic epipedons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Palatine soils occupy glacially modified, bedrock-controlled land forms on weakly consolidated, calcareous, dark colored shale that is high in carbon. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent in gradient. The soils formed in till mainly derived from shale like that which underlies the soil. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 45 inches; mean annual air temperature from 45 to 50 degrees F., and mean growing season from 130 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the deep Manheim and Mohawk soils which are dominated by the same kind of shale, and the deep Honeoye and Nellis soils and wetter analogues which occur on till dominated by limestone. Herkimer soils occupy old alluvial fans.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained and somewhat excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high throughout the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most nearly level to sloping areas are used for growing pasture, hay, corn, and small grains. Steeper areas are pastured or are wooded. Woodlots contain sugar maple, basswood, white ash, red oak, and associated hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mohawk Valley and the northern edge of the Allegheny Plateau in New York, and in southwestern Vermont. MLRA's 101, 142, and 144A. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Montgomery County, New York, 1908.
REMARKS: The soft shale in these soils may be partially broken down in laboratory determination of particle-size distribution.
The present Typical pedon does not classify as a Mollisols due to the color of the substratum. Maintenance of this series is needed to determine whether the classification should be changed or the typical pedon should be changed.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
(1) Mollic epipedon - the zone from the surface to 11 inches (Ap horizon)
(2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 11 to 18 inches (Bw horizon)