LOCATION TACONIC NY+CT MA VT

Established Series
Rev. JWW-WEH-DAF
12/2012

TACONIC SERIES

The Taconic series consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils formed in till. These soils are on bedrock controlled, glacially modified hills, ridges and mountain sides. Bedrock is at a depth of 10 to 20 inches. Slope ranges from 3 to 80 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high. Mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 38 about inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, frigid Lithic Dystrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Taconic channery silt loam, on a 45 percent slope in a forested area. (Colors refer to moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

A -- 0 to 5 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery silt loam; pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 25 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

Bw1 -- 5 to 8 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very channery silt loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; 35 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Bw2 -- 8 to 10 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) very channery silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; 45 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

Bw3 -- 10 to 14 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) very channery silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; 55 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 8 to 16 inches.)

2R -- 14 inches; fractured and folded gray (5Y 5/1) phyllite bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Rensselaer County, New York; Town of Stephentown; about 1 mile southeast of intersection of East Road with crossroad to New York State Route 22; on Lansing Burdick Farm, 2800 feet east of farm house. USGS Stephentown Center, NY topographic quadrangle; latitude 42 degrees, 35 minutes, 17 seconds N. and longitude 73 degrees, 20 minutes, 34 seconds W. NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Rock fragments, mainly slate, quartz, schist and phyllite, range from 5 to 50 percent, by volume, in the A horizon and 30 to 60 percent in the B horizon, averaging 35 percent or more in the particle-size control section. If present, the C horizon rock fragment content ranges from 45 to 65 percent. Up to 15 percent of the surface can be covered with flagstones, stones and boulders. Unless limed, the soil is extremely acid to strongly acid.

Some pedons have an O horizon.

The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 1 through 3. It is dominantly silt loam, but ranges to loam in the fine earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, fine and medium granular structure and very friable or friable consistence.

The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6 with hue of 7.5YR occurring in the upper part only. It is dominantly silt loam but ranges to loam in the fine earth fraction. It has weak or moderate, very fine, fine or medium subangular blocky structure and very friable or friable consistence.

C horizons are present in some pedons. They have hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is platy or angular blocky or the horizons are massive. Consistence is firm or friable.

The 2R horizon is fractured and folded phyllite, schist, quartzite or slate bedrock.

COMPETING SERIES: The Halcott series is the only series currently in the same family. The Halcott soils are dominated by reddish sandstone, siltstone or shale rock fragments.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Taconic soils are gently sloping to very steep on bedrock controlled, glacially modified landforms. Slope ranges from 3 to 80 percent. The Taconic soils formed in material derived mainly from strongly folded phyllite, schist, quartzite and slate. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 34 to 56 inches, and mean annual frost-free season from 90 to 130 days. The elevation ranges from 1000 to 1800 feet above sea level.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bernardston, Hoosic, Manlius, Macomber, Nassau, Pittstown, Quonset and Warwick soils. The Bernardston and Pittstown soils are very deep and are on adjacent till plains and hills. The Hoosic, Quonset and Warwick soils formed in outwash deposits on nearby valley terraces. Manlius and Nassau soils that are underlain by shale bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches and 10 to 20 inches respectively, are at lower elevations. Macomber soils are nearby associates where bedrock is at depths of 20 to 40 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Surface runoff is very low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in forest containing sugar maple, American beech, paper birch, hemlock, white oak, and red oak. Some areas commonly associated with soils deeper to bedrock are used as brush land or unimproved pasture.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwest Connecticut, Taconic Mountain range of Eastern New York, Vermont and Massachusetts: MLRAs 144A, 144B, and 143. The series is moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rensselaer County, New York, 1980.

REMARKS: The use of the Taconic series in 144A is questionable because it is a frigid series. This needs to be considered in MLRA updates.

Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 5 inches. (A horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 5 to 14 inches. (Bw horizons).
3. Lithic subgroup - bedrock at a depth of 14 inches. (2R horizon).
4. Dystrudepts - base saturation is less than 60 percent in the zone from 10 to 14 inches. (Bw horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Full characterization data for sample no. S78VT025009. Analysed by the National Soil Survey Laboratory, Lincoln, NE.

Soil Interpretation Records: NY0278, NY0322

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.