LOCATION ROCKRIFT NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, frigid Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Rockrift channery loam, very bouldery, on a 50 percent slope in a wooded area of mixed hardwoods. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oa-- 0 to 2 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1) muck; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine, few medium and coarse roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick.)
E-- 2 to 4 inches; reddish gray (5YR 5/2) and reddish brown (5YR 5/3) channery loam; weak very fine and fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and very fine roots, common medium roots and few coarse roots; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 4 to 15 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6 and 7.5YR 4/6) very channery loam; very weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots, few medium and coarse roots; 35 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 15 to 35 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very channery loam; weak medium, parting to fine, subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and few medium roots; 45 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 15 to 40 inches.)
BC-- 35 to 49 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very channery loam with yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) stains; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly firm in place; few fine roots; 45 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick.)
C-- 49 to 72 inches; 50 percent brown (10YR 5/3), 40 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), and 10 percent brown (10YR 4/3) very flaggy sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine roots; 60 percent rock fragments; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Delaware County, New York; Town of Tompkins, 1500 feet WSW of Pines Lookout Tower and 4000 feet NNW of junction of Apex road with State route 10, along logging trail; Elevation 1900 feet; USGS Readburn, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 6 minutes, 1 second N. and Longitude 75 degrees, 13 minutes, 51 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 30 through 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 15 through 45 percent in the upper part of the mineral solum, and from 25 through 70 percent in the lower part of the solum and substratum, with greater than 35 percent weighted average between a depth of 10 and 40 inches. Rock fragments are dominantly sandstone with smaller amounts of shale and siltstone. Reaction ranges from moderately acid through very strongly acid throughout.
The O horizon, when present, has a hue of 5YR through 7.5YR, value of 2 through 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is a muck or mucky peat.
The A horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2.5 or 4, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Most pedons have a thin organic surface layer.
The E horizon, where present, has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture in the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5 YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is very weak through moderate, fine through coarse, subangular blocky or granular. Consistence is very friable or friable.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue, value, and chroma similar to the B horizon. Texture in the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam. Structure is weak, fine through coarse subangular blocky or platy. Consistence is friable or firm.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is loam or sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Consistence is friable or firm. Some pedons have a 2Cr horizon above the bedrock that is deeper than 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: The Cuyler (T), Knapp Creek, Lagross, Macomber, and Mandy soils were in the same family. Cuyler (T) soils are 20 to 60 inches to bedrock. Knapp Creek soils are deep soils formed in sandstone conglomerate. Lagross soils formed in water-sorted parent material. Macomber soils are moderately deep over metamorphic bedrock. Mandy soils have bedrock between 20 to 40 inches.
The Franklinville series are similar soils in another family. They average less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Rockrift soils are strongly sloping to very steep soils that typically occur in headslopes of hollows and lower side slopes of ridges and valley sides. Slope ranges from 15 through 70 percent. They formed in till and local colluvium derived from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Most areas have between .01 and 3 percent of the soil surface covered with sandstone boulders. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 43 through 45 degrees F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 37 through 46 inches, and the mean frost-free season ranges from 100 through 130 days. The elevation ranges from 1750 feet through 3000 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Elka, Halcott, Lewbath, Mongaup, Willdin, and Vly soils are on nearby landscapes. Elka soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the solum, and have hue of 5YR or redder in the substratum. The Halcott soils are 20 inches or less to bedrock. The Mongaup and Vly soils are both moderately deep to bedrock. The Lewbath and Willdin soils are nearby associates that have fragipans.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high throughout the mineral soil.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most area are wooded. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods of sugar maple, beech, white ash, black cherry, and northern red oak along with eastern white pine and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Catskill Mountain section of the Glaciated Appalachian Plateau in east central New York. MLRA 140. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Delaware County, New York, 1999.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric Epipedon - from 0 to 4 inches (Oa and E horizons).
2) Cambic Horizon - from 4 to 49 inches (Bw1, Bw2, and BC horizons).