LOCATION SKYTOP PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, siliceous, active, frigid Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Skytop very flaggy sandy loam - forested, (Colors moist unless otherwise stated).
A-- 0 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very flaggy sandy loam; weak very fine and fine granular structure; very friable, non sticky, non plastic; many fine and medium roots throughout; 25 percent angular sandstone flagstones, and 15 percent angular sandstone channers; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 4 to 18 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very channery sandy loam; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; very friable, non sticky, non plastic; many fine and medium roots throughout, and many coarse roots throughout; 35 percent angular sandstone channers, and 15 percent angular sandstone stones; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 24 inches thick.)
Bw2-- 18 to 30 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very channery sandy loam; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; very friable, non sticky, non plastic; common fine and medium roots throughout; 45 percent angular sandstone channers, and 10 percent angular sandstone flagstones; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 5 to 34 inches.)
R-- 30 inches; hard dark gray coarse grained sandstone typically with prevalent glacial scouring on the bedrock surface and fractures more than 3 feet apart.
TYPE LOCATION: Pike County, Pennsylvania, Blooming Grove Township, in Delaware State Forest; 4 miles south on PA 402 from I-84, right onto High Knob Fire Tower access road, 350 feet north along power line from radio towers, 100 ft west of road in woods; Promised Land, PA USGS topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 18 minutes, 6 seconds N. Longitude 75 degrees, 7 minutes, 34 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments of glacially subrounded and triangulated sandstone and siltstone range from 20 to 40 percent in the surface horizon and 35 to 60 percent in the solum. Reaction is very strongly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is very channery, flaggy, or stony loam, sandy loam or loamy sand. It has weak fine granular structure. Some pedons may have an E horizon with hues and chroma similar to the A horizon, but with values of 4 or 5.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 or 6. It is very channery, flaggy, or stony sandy loam or loamy sand. It has weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure.
Some pedons have C horizons with hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, values of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 or 6. There can be some uncoated sand grains with lower chroma. It is very channery, flaggy, or stony sandy loam or loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: The Madsheep series is in the same family. The Madsheep soils are formed in red noncalcareous shale, siltstone, and sandstone. The hues in the Bw are 5YR or redder.
Closely related soils are Lordstown, Lagross, Macomber, Mandy, Mosine, Mongaup, Oquaga, Paddyknob, Wasnot, and Vly soils. The Lordstown and Oquaga soils are in a mesic temperature regime. Lagross, Macomber, Mandy, Mosine, and Vly soils have less than 90 percent by weight silica minerals within the mineralogy control section. Paddyknob soils are formed in residuum and are superactive. Vly soils have redder hues. The Wasnot soils are less than 20 inches to bedrock. Mongaup soils have more silt and are not skeletal.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Skytop soils are gently sloping to very steep soils derived from sandy till on hard sandstone bedrock controlled topography of high exposed ridgetops and upper side slopes of summits over 1800 feet in elevation. Slope ranges from 3 to 70 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is 40 inches. The growing season ranges from 90 to 110 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The Arnot, Lordstown, Oquaga, Swartswood, Wasnot, and Wurtsboro soils. All the soils except the Wasnot soils are in a mesic temperature regime and on lower elevations. The Arnot soils are less than 20 inches deep. Lordstown soils are in a coarse-loamy family. Oquaga soils are the mesic equivalent of Skytop. Swartswood and Wurstboro soils have fragipans. Wasnot soils are less than 20 inches to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to very high. Permeability is moderately rapid to rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely in woodland. Forested areas are in northern hardwoods of oak, maple, beech and birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Pennsylvania. The series is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pike County Pennsylvania, 1995.
REMARKS: This soil separates the frigid part of the Lordstown series. Lordstown soils found on the northern edge of the Pocono Plateau. Siliceous mineralogy is assumed from samples of other soils nearby on similar geologic formations.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 4 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 4 inches to a depth of about 30 inches (Bw horizons).
3. CEC activity class is estimated from data on similar parent materials.