LOCATION SUN NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Aeric Epiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Sun loam, on a 1 percent slope in a brushy pasture. (Colors are for moist broken soil unless indicated otherwise)
Ap-- 0 to 9 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak coarse granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 5 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 13 inches thick.)
Bg-- 9 to 18 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak fine blocky structure; friable; few roots; few fine pores; 20 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick.)
Bw-- 18 to 36 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine pores; 30 percent rock fragments; common medium and coarse distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation, and many medium distinct gray (10YR 5/1) areas of iron depletion; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick.)
Cd-- 36 to 72 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly fine sandy loam; massive; firm; few fine pores; 30 percent rock fragments; common medium and fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation, and common medium distinct gray (10YR 5/1) areas of iron depletion; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Oswego County, New York; Town of Volney, 3 1/2 miles east of Minetto, 1-1/2 miles northwest of Mount Pleasant, 25 feet from intermittent drainage way below pond site. USGS Oswego East, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 23 minutes, 55 seconds N. and Longitude 76 degrees, 24 minutes, 27 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Depth to carbonates usually ranges from 20 to 70 inches however, some pedons lack carbonates. Rock fragments range in volume from 0 to 35 percent in the solum and from 15 to 50 percent in the substratum, but average less than 35 percent in the control section. These percentages include up to 10 percent greater than 3 inches in the A horizon and up to 15 percent in the B and C horizons. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through neutral in the mineral surface layer, from moderately acid through slightly alkaline in the subsoil, and from neutral through moderately alkaline in the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate, granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable. In uncultivated areas, the soil may have an O horizon up to 4 inches thick.
Some pedons have an E or BE horizon. They have hue of 5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate angular or subangular blocky, platy, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Bg horizon, if present, is neutral or has hue of 10YR through 5Y, or is gley, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 0 through 2 with chroma restricted to 0 or 1 if the horizon is massive. Redoximorphic concentrations are common or many. The Bg horizon may be absent in pedons having depleted ped face colors. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate angular, subangular blocky, platy, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Bw horizon, if present, has hue of 5YR through 5Y, or is gley, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It contains both areas of iron oxide accumulations and areas of iron depletions. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, silt loam, or loam. Structure and consistence are the same as the Bg.
Some pedons have a BC or BCg horizon with hue of 5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam. Structure is subangular blocky, platy, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is friable or firm. Carbonates are present in some pedons.
The Cd horizon has hue of 5YR through 5Y, or is gleyed with hue of 5G, 5GY or 5BG, value is 3 through 6, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. It is massive or has plate-like divisions. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: The Painesville and Punsit series are in the same family. Painesville soils have textures of silt loam or silty clay loam in the substratum. Punsit soils are till derived dominantly from dark slate, phylite, shale or schists.
Closely related soils are the Conneaut, Lamson, Massena, Neversink, Newstead, Busti, Red Hook, and Suny series. Conneaut soils have less sand and more clay in the particle-size control section. Massena soils are somewhat poorly drained and in the horizon immediately below the A horizon has chroma of 3 or 4, if aggregated otherwise, it has chroma of 2. Lamson soils formed in deep sandy lacustrine deposits and do not have rock fragments. Neversink soils are more acid. Newstead soils have bedrock at 20 to 40 inches. Busti soils lack dense substrata, and are somewhat poorly drained. Red Hook soils have stratified C horizons. Suny soils have a colder soil temperature regime and are more acid.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Sun soils are in level and concave depressional areas of till plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent. The soils formed in till derived from sandstone and limestone, and in some areas have a component of schist, shale or granitic rocks. The upper horizons of some pedons are in local alluvium or colluvium up to 18 inches thick over till. The climate is humid and cool temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 26 to 45 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F., and the mean annual frost-free period ranges from 110 to 180 days. Elevation ranges from 50 to 1700 feet above sea-level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Nellis, Amenia and Massena soils are well drained, moderately well drained and somewhat poorly drained soils, respectively, that are associated in a drainage sequence with Sun soils. Other associated soils are the well drained and moderately well drained Pittsfield and Georgia soils that are on higher nearby landscapes.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible, high, or very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mineral surface and subsoil, and moderately low and moderately high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used mainly for pasture or long-term hay. Woodlots contain red maple, black ash, alder, and other wetness-tolerant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New York, and possibly Connecticut, and Massachusetts. MLRA's 101, 140, 141, 142, and 144A. The soil is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Essex County, New York, 1954
REMARKS: Original classification placed Sun in the great group of Haplaquepts. Because of changes in the 5th edition of `Keys to Soil Taxonomy' this soil now classifies into the great group of Epiaquepts. The C horizon has been redefined to a Cd and friable removed from the RIC of the Cd. The series is now defined as poorly drained only, and very poorly is dropped.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 9 to 36 inches (Bg and Bw horizons).
3) Aquepts suborder (Aquic moisture conditions) - at a depth less than 20 inches a subhorizon with redoximorphic features and matrix chroma
of 2 or less (Bg horizon).
4) Aeric subgroup - subhorizon within 30 inches of the soil surface that has more than 50 percent high chroma (greater than 2) colors (Bw
horizon).