LOCATION RYDER                   PA+MD WV

Established Series
WRK-EJM-EAW-RP-MS/Rev. JCB, CRS, JRT
09/2021

RYDER SERIES


The Ryder series consists of moderately deep well drained soils. They formed in residuum weathered from thin bedded shaly limestone or calcareous shale. They are on convex upland slopes of 0 to 65 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high. Mean annual precipitation is 43 inches. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive, mesic Ultic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Ryder on a southeast facing slope in cultivated crops at an elevation of 665 feet. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise noted.)

Ap --0 to 7 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery silt loam; strong fine and medium granular structure; friable, non-sticky, non-plastic; common fine and medium roots; 15 percent subangular channers; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)

Bt1 --7 to 19 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 10 percent subangular channers; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)

Bt2 --19 to 30 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) channery silty clay loam; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; many prominent clay films on faces of peds and in pores; few black (10YR 2/1) iron-manganese stains on faces of peds; 20 percent subangular channers; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)

C --30 to 35 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and brown (10YR 5/3) very channery silt loam; massive; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) iron-manganese stains on channers, and common distinct clay films on channers; 45 percent subangular channers; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 15 inches thick)

R --35 inches; moderately weathered, fractured and tilted, interbedded limestone and limy shale.

TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County, Pennsylvania; in a field 3/4 mile south of Waynesboro, Washington Township, 2000 feet northwest of junction of Pennsylvania Township Routes T363 and T368, 1600 feet north of T363; USGS Smithsburg topographic quadrangle; lat. 39 degrees 43 minutes 54 seconds N. and long. 77 degrees 35 minutes 14 seconds W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 20 to 36 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 24 to 40 inches. Rock fragments of white quartzite, limestone, or shale range from 0 to 25 percent in the solum and from 25 to 75 percent in the C horizon. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through neutral in the solum and from moderately acid through neutral in the C horizon. The most common clay mineral is illite. Other minerals of chlorite and interstratified chlorite-vermiculite occur in small quantities.

The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Fine-earth texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 4 through 6. Fine-earth textures are loam, silt loam, and silty clay loam. It commonly has 18 to 30 percent clay and 45 to 65 percent silt.

The C horizon has hue of 7.5 YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. Fine-earth textures are loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam.

COMPETING SERIES: Bolton, Bookwood, Carpenter, Renox and Washington series are in the same family. Bolton soils formed in material weathered from interbedded limestone and sandstone bedrock on mountain side slopes. Bookwood soils are moderately deep and well drained soils that formed from residuum derived from interbedded limestone and shale. Carpenter soils formed in moderately permeable loamy colluvium over slowly permeable residuum of weathered shale or siltstone. Renox sols are very deep and formed in loamy colluvium or alluvium from interbedded siltstone, shale, limestone, and sandstone. Washington soils formed in old glacial drift (pre-Wisconsin Age) or colluvium derived mainly from limestone and granitic gneiss.


Arcola, Athol, Brecknock, Caribel, Cateache, Culleoka, Door, Duffield, Dumfries, Ebbing, Fredericktown, Frondorf, Grayford, Hayter, Kell, Lamotte, Legore, Loudonville, Manassas, Mechanicsburg, Middleburg, Morrison, Myersville, Neshaminy, Oatlands, Panorama, Pasturerock, Penn, Spriggs, Sudley, Weedmark Westmoreland, Wheeling, and Williamsburg soils are in a related families. Arcola soils have hues redder than 7.5YR throughout solum and substratum. Athol and Penn soils have Bt horizons with hues redder than 7.5YR. Brecknock soils have solum thickness of less than 40 inches and depth to bedrock of less than 60 inches. Caribel, Hayter, Manassas, Middleburg, Neshaminy, Panorama and Sudley, soils all have bedrock at depths greater than 40 inches. Cateache, Culleoka, Frondorf, Loudonville, Mechanicsburg, Penn, and Spriggs series have a lithic or paralithic contact at depths of less than 4O inches. Cateache soils have hues redder than 7.5YR below the surface horizons. Culleoka soils do not have rock fragments of weathered limestone and quartzite. Door soils have a mollic epipedon from 10 to 20 inches. Duffield soils are formed in residuum of impure limestone. Dumfries soils have a higher mean annual temperature and also have bedrock at greater than 20 feet. Ebbing soils have hue of 7.5YR or browner in the lower part of the series control section. Fredericktown soils formed in early Wisconsian or Illinoian age outwash, with or without a thin loess mantle, on stream terraces and kame terraces. Frondorf soils are very strongly acid or strongly acid throughout the soil, and have rock fragments dominantly of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Grayford and Lamotte soils have a loess capping. Kell soils are more acid than moderately acid in the lower one-fourth of the control section. Legore, Myersville, and Westmoreland soils have solum thickness of less than 40 inches. Legore soils have rock fragments dominated by diabase or diorite and saprolite within a depth of 40 inches. Loudonville soils have erratics and rock fragments are dominantly of sandstone. Mechanicsburg soils have a lithologic discontinuity between 20 and 40 inches. Morrison soils formed in residuum of weathered noncalcareous sedimentary rock and have hue of 7.5YR or yellower in the Bt2 horizon. Oatlands soils have rock fragments of conglomerate. Pasturerock soils are very deep to bedrock and in the particle-size control section have 5 to 35 percent gravel and 0 to 15 percent cobbles. Spriggs soils have saprolite and/or hornblende lithologies immediately below the paralithic contact. Weedmark soils developed from gneiss schist and granite. Wheeling soils have C horizons of stratified very fine sand or sand with up to 65 percent rock fragments on river terraces. Williamsburg soils are formed in a thin mantle of loess and in stratified outwash of silty and loamy material with some gravel on high stream terraces.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ryder soils are on nearly level to very steep soils on dissected uplands. Slopes range from 0 to 65 percent. Ryder soils formed in residuum weathered from thin bedded limestone or calcareous shale. Climate is humid and temperate with mean annual precipitation of 40 to 46 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 59 degrees F., and the growing season ranges from 135 to 200 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Bedington, Berks, Clarksburg, Comly, Duffield, Nollville, Penlaw, Thorndale, Washington and Weikert soil are on adjacent uplands. Lindside, Melvin, Newark, and Funkstown soils are on adjacent floodplains. Bedington, Duffield, Nollville, Washington and Funkstown soils have bedrock at depths greater than 40 inches. Berks soils do not have an argillic horizon and average more than 35 percent rock fragments in the textured control section. Clarksburg, Comly, Penlaw and Thorndale soils have fragipans and seasonal high water tables. Weikert soils have bedrock between 10 and 20 inches of the soil surface. Lindside, Melvin and Newark soils do not have argillic horizons and have high water tables.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high.

USE AND VEGETATION: Approximately 80 percent of the Ryder soils are in cropland, and the remainder is in woods, pasture or non-farm uses. Wooded areas are in mixed hardwood trees.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and Eastern West Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 1932.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon are:

a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 8 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Argillic horizons - the zone from 8 to 23 inches (Bt horizon).

c. Original OSD site was urbanized, Site location move to Franklin County, PA.

2008 revision: Pedon description and competing series updated

8/2021 revision: expands slope gradient range from '0 to 25 percent to '0 to 65'; adds limy shale as a parent material origin.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.