LOCATION TOPKNOT NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, frigid Lithic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Topknot cobbly loam on a 3 percent slope in a pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted).
A-- 0 to 7 inches, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) cobbly loam; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium and fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine roots; many fine and very fine pores; 25 percent rock fragments (including 10 percent gravels); slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick).
Bw-- 7 to 14 inches, brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loam; weak medium and fine subangular blocky; friable; common very fine roots; many fine and very fine pores; many (50%) medium grayish brown (10YR 5/2) Fe depletions, and many fine and medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) soft masses of Fe oxides on faces of peds in the lower part of the horizon; 20 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 16 inches thick).
2R-- 14 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Clinton County, New York; in the town of Mooers, about 2700 feet east of intersection of Canaan Road and Green Valley Road, and 2500 feet north of Green Valley Road; USGS Ellenburg Depot NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 44 degrees, 55 minutes, 38 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 47 minutes, 14 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Redoximorphic features consisting of concentrations of Fe/Mn oxides and Fe depletions occur within 20 inches of the soil surface. Rock fragments consisting mainly of sandstone and granite range from 5 to 30 percent by volume throughout. Unless limed, reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral (but one subhorizon has a pH greater than 5.5).
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3. Some pedons have an Ap horizon up to 10 inches thick, with value of 3 or 4 (6 dry), and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It has faint or distinct redoximorphic concentrations and depletions in the lower part. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or weak platy. Consistence is friable or very friable.
Some pedons have a BC horizon with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It has faint or distinct redox concentrations and depletions. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky or platy. Consistence is friable or firm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other series in the same family.
The Ensign, Ruse, Torull and Tuller series are in related families. Ensign and Ruse soils are dominated by rock fragments derived from limestone. In addition Ensign soils have free carbonates in the lower part of the solum. Both Torull and Tuller soils are more acid, and Tuller soils also have a mesic temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Topknot soils are nearly level and gently sloping soils on till uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. They are in slight depressions and in areas between sandstone bedrock ridges. The till parent material is derived mainly from sandstone and granite, but also includes other sedimentary rock such as dolostone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 36 inches; mean annual air temperature ranges from 41 to 45 degrees F; and mean frost-free season ranges from 90 to 140 days. Elevation ranges from 200 to 1800 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chazy, Irona, Lyonmounten, Peasleeville, Schroon, and Sunapee soils. The well drained Irona soils are in a drainage sequence. The Chazy soils are on similar landscapes, but are 20 to 40 inches to sandstone bedrock. The Peasleeville and Lyonmounten soils are also on similar landscapes but are very deep to bedrock. Moderately well drained Schroon and Sunapee soils occur on more convex landscape positions and are very deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to very high. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are in woodland or reverting to brush. Areas cleared of stones or boulders are used mainly for pasture or hay. Wooded areas contain red maple, eastern white pine, northern white cedar, trembling aspen or gray birch.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Champlain and St. Lawrence Valley of Northern New York. MLRA 142. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clinton County, New York, 1995
REMARKS: This represents a partial update of the series to Established. Not all items were reviewed at this time. CEC activity class is added as active based on data from associated soils in similar parent materials.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1) Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 7 inches (A horizon).
2) Cambic horizon - from 7 to 14 inches (Bw horizon)
3) Endoaquepts great group - redox depletions with
chroma 2 or less and redox concentrations within 20
inches of the mineral soil surface; apparent water
table.
4) Lithic subgroup - bedrock within 20 inches of the
mineral soil surface (2R horizon).
5) Redoximorphic features - areas of Fe depletions and
accumulation of Fe oxides (Bw horizon).