LOCATION REDWATER NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, frigid Fluvaquentic Eutrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Redwater fine sandy loam, on a 1 percent north-facing slope in a meadow adjacent to the Grasse River. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many very fine, fine and medium roots; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--7 to 19 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; many coarse faint very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) mottles and common fine faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) mottles; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; many very fine, fine and medium roots and few coarse roots; many fine vesicular pores and few fine medium and coarse tubular pores; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2--19 to 30 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) fine sandy loam; many coarse faint very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) mottles and common medium faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles; very weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse subangular blocky; friable; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; many very fine, common fine and medium, and few coarse tubular pores; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 8 to 30 inches.)
BC--30 to 38 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and dark brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; common medium faint dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) mottles, common fine faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) mottles, and common fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) mottles; very weak coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; many fine and few medium tubular pores; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C--38 to 50 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; many coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) mottles; massive; friable; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; many fine tubular pores; few thin lenses of sand less than 1/2 inches thick; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary.
R--50 inches; hard limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: St. Lawrence County, New York; Town of Louisville, 30 feet south of the Grasse River, 1200 feet east of the Town Line Road Bridge. 44 degrees 50 minutes 43 seconds North Latitude, 50 degrees 04 minutes 30 seconds West Longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The depth to bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Rock fragments are mostly gravel-size limestone and range from 0 to 15 percent in the A and B horizons and from 0 to 50 percent in the C horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is silt loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Reaction is strongly acid through slightly acid.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Chroma of 2 when present do not dominate the horizon. It is most commonly fine sandy loam and less commonly loam in the fine-earth fraction. Thin subhorizons of silt loam, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand are in some pedons. Reaction is slightly acid or neutral.
The BC horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, chroma of 2 through 4. Chroma of 2 does not dominate the horizon if it occurs above a depth of 20 inches. It is fine sandy loam or loam in the fine-earth fraction. Reaction is slightly acid or neutral.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 through 7, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is fine sandy loam, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand in the fine-earth fraction. It is commonly stratified. Reaction is slightly acid or neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no soils in the same family. The Brokaw and Middlebury soils are in similar families. Brokaw soils do not have a cambic horizon. The Middlebury soils have a mesic temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Redwater soils are on flood plains adjacent to low gradient streams and rivers. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. These rivers, since the retreat of Wisconsin ice, have cut down through layers of glacial drift and lacustrine or marine sediments so that further down-cutting is deterred by bedrock in the stream bottoms. The soils formed in post-glacial alluvium derived predominantly from sandstone, dolomitic limestone, and less commonly gneiss and marble. Redwater soils flood commonly for brief durations. The mean annual temperature ranges from 42 to 45 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 42 inches. The growing season ranges from 120 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Adams, Adjidaumo, and Croghan soils. The Adams and Croghan soils are in sandy families and are on natural levees next to larger streams and rivers. The Adjidaumo soils are in a fine family and are in back water areas that remain ponded after the flood waters have receded.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: A high proportion is cleared and is used for hay, and less commonly for corn. Wooded areas support aspen, willow, elm, cottonwood, and red maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The St. Lawrence Valley of Northern New York and the Champlain Plain of Northern New York and possibly Vermont. The series is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES PROPOSED: St. Lawrence County, New York, 1986.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the pedon are: a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 30 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Fluvaquentic Eutrochrept feature - there are mottles with 2 chroma at 7 inches. Strata indicate an irregular distribution of carbon with depth. The colors have higher values in the lower B horizon.