LOCATION PORTVILLE NY+PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Fragiaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Portville silty clay loam, on a 7 percent slope in an idle field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
E-- 7 to 12 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) channery silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and common medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) masses of iron depletions in the matrix; 15 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear irregular boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
E/Btx-- 12 to 22 inches; E material (occurs as fillings between tops of prisms, 3 inches wide at the top and 1 inch at the bottom) is light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) channery silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix. Btx material is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery silt loam; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly brittle; few fine roots along prism faces; common fine pores; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) on all ped faces; thin discontinuous clay films on ped faces and in pores; common fine manganese concretions; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) masses of iron depletions in the matrix; 20 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
Btx1-- 22 to 35 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic parting to weak medium subangular blocky structure; very firm, brittle; few fine roots along prism faces; thin discontinuous light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay films on ped faces and in pores; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) exterior prism faces with strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) rinds; common fine manganese concretions; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) masses of iron depletion and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Btx2-- 35 to 50 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery silt loam; weak very coarse prismatic parting to weak very coarse subangular blocky structure; very firm, brittle; few fine roots along prism faces; common fine pores; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) exterior prism faces with strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) rinds; thin discontinuous clay films on ped faces and in pores; common fine manganese concretions; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) masses of iron depletion and strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btx horizon is 20 to 50 inches.)
C1-- 50 to 60 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silty clay loam; massive; firm; many thick continuous gray (10YR 6/1) clay and silt coatings on fracture faces; common medium distinct gray (10YR 6/1) masses of iron depletions in the matrix; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.(0 to 30 inches thick).
C2-- 60 to 72 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly silty clay loam; massive; firm; few manganese concretions; 40 percent rock fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cattaraugus County, New York; town of Carrollton, 50 feet north of Limestone Run Road, 1.6 miles west of Parkside Drive and Limestone Run road. USGS Knapp creek Topographic Quadrangle; Latitude: 42 degrees, 01 minutes, 29 seconds N; Longitude; 78 degrees, 40 minutes, 10 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 36 to 80 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Depth to fragipan ranges from 12 to 36 inches; Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the surface layer, 5 to 40 percent in the subsoil, and 5 to 60 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the surface layer and subsoil, unless limed, and from very strongly acid to slightly acid in the substratum.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is loam, silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction.
The E part of the E/Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. texture is silt loam, loam or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or platy. Consistence is very friable or friable.
Some pedons may have a Bt or Bw horizon that has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 tough 6 and chroma of 2 to 6, with low and high chroma redoximorphic features in the upper 10 inches of the horizon. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or prismatic. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6 and chroma of 2 to 8. Texture is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is prismatic and or blocky. Some horizons have weak platy structure. Consistence is firm or very firm.
Some pedons have a BC horizon that has color similar to the Btx horizon and texture similar to the C horizon. Structure is prismatic or platy. Consistence is firm or very firm.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay in the fine earth fraction. Structure is massive. Consistence is friable to very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: The Abbottstown, Buckingham, Gresham, Ravenna and Venango series are in the same family. Abbottstown is deep to bedrock and is formed in red residual material. Buckingham soils are Northern Piedmont soils derived from red and gray metamorphic materials and allow 5YR hue in the solum. Gresham, Ravenna, and Venango soils have glacial till parent material.
The Napoli series is in a related family. Napoli soils have glacial till parent material. The Brinkerton, Cavode, Londo and Sargeant series are in related families. Brinkerton soils have grayer subsoils and are in depressions. Cavode soils have clay content greater than 35 percent in the subsoil. Londo and Sargeant soils have tongues of albic material in the argillic horizon. Gilpin, Blairton, and Dekalb soils are related series that have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Portville soils are nearly level to sloping and are on benches, lower hillsides and concave footslopes. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soil developed in colluvium weathered from interbedded shale, siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. Mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 50 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches, and the growing season ranges from 120 to 150 days. These soils are at elevations of 1400 to 1800 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Portville soils are the somewhat poorly drained member of a drainage sequence that includes the well drained Rayne soils, the moderately well drained Ernest soils, and the poorly drained Brinkerton soils. The Berks, Blairton, Buchanan, Cavode, Clymer, Cookport, Dekalb, Gilpin, and Wharton soils are on associated landscapes. The Berks, Blairton, Dekalb and Gilpin soils have bedrock at depth of 20 to 40 inches and lack a fragipan. Buchanan and Cookport soils have base saturation less than 35 percent and lack low chroma redoximorphic features in the upper part of the argillic horizon. Cavode, Clymer and Wharton soils do not have fragipans.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Index surface runoff class is high where nearly level and very high where steeper. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan, and moderately high or moderately low in the fragipan and substratum. Permeability (obsolete) is moderate or moderately slow above the fragipan, and moderately slow or slow in the fragipan and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing hay and pasture with some corn and small grains. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods of sugar maple, white ash, beech, hemlock and eastern white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Non-glaciated Appalachian Plateau of New York and Pennsylvania at elevations below 1900 feet. MLRA 127. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cattaraugus County, New York 2002.
REMARKS: Buchanan series had a dual drainage class. These soils were formerly included as the Somewhat Poorly Drained component of the Buchanan series. Available data supports the Alfisol classification. Reference pedons S90NY009-011 and S93NY009-02.
Reference Soil Interpretation Record: NY0589
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 12 inches (Ap and E horizons).
b. Argillic horizon - the zone from 12 to 50 inches (Bt and Btx horizons).
c. Fragipan - the zone from 12 to 50 inches (Btx horizon).
d. Aqualfs suborder - aquic moisture regime, and evidence of wetness that includes redoximorphic features, 2 chroma ped face colors in the zone from 12 to 22 inches (Btx horizon), and iron depletions immediately below the Ap horizon (E horizon).
e. Aeric subgroup - as evidenced by the dominant high chroma (>2) zone at a depth of 7 to 12 inches (E horizon).
Revised 03/2005-PSP, ART; 02/2007-MWH, DHK