LOCATION VARYSBURG NY

Established Series
DWO-JWW-PSP
03/2013

VARYSBURG SERIES

The Varysburg series consists of very deep, well drained and moderately well drained soils on dissected lake plains. They are nearly level to steep soils formed in gravelly outwash material and the underlying clayey lacustrine sediments. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mantle and low to moderately low in the clayey lacustrine material. Mean annual precipitation is about 35 inches, mean annual air temperature is about 47 degrees F., and mean growing season is about 155 days.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal over clayey, mixed, semiactive, mesic Glossaquic Hapludalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Varysburg gravelly loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Ap -- 0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; 30 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick.)

BA -- 9 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) very gravelly loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; many pores; 35 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick.)

B/E -- 15 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many fine pores with clay linings; coatings of pale brown (10YR 6/3) material 1 to 3 millimeters thick on faces of peds which constitutes less than 15 percent by volume; 40 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick.)

Bt1 -- 21 to 28 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very gravelly loam; weak and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; many pores with clay linings on surfaces along pores; common clay films of all faces of peds; 50 percent rock fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick.)

2Bt2 -- 28 to 33 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) silty clay; moderate medium angular blocky structure; firm; common fine pores with clay linings on surfaces along pores; many dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay films on all faces of peds; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; neutral; clear smooth boundary.

2Bt3 -- 33 to 41 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silty clay; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium and coarse angular blocky; firm; common fine pores with clay linings on surfaces along pores; common clay films on all faces of peds; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the 2Bt is 6 to 17 inches.)

2C -- 41 to 72 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) varved silty clay and silt loam; massive; firm; common fine and medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) areas of iron depletion and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; calcareous; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Erie County, New York, Town of North Collins; in field on south side of New Oregon-Wyandale Road, 0.2 mile east of New Oregon. USGS Langford, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 35 minutes, 18 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 47 minutes, 22 seconds W., NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 35 through 50 inches. Depth to clayey material ranges from 20 through 35 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 10 through 40 percent in the surface horizon, increasing with depth to as much as 65 percent in the upper part of the B horizon and includes 0 through 5 percent cobblestones. There are few or no rock fragments in the 2B and 2C horizons. Unless limed, the reaction of the solum ranges from strongly acid through neutral in the upper part and slightly acid through moderately alkaline in the lower part and 2C horizon. Depth to carbonates is typically 41 inches, but ranges from 35 through 60 inches.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It ranges from sandy loam to silt loam in the fine earth fraction. The Ap or A horizon has weak or moderate fine or medium granular structure and friable or very friable consistence. Thickness of the A horizon ranges from 2 through 5 inches.

The BA horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 4 through 6. It ranges from sandy loamy through silt loam in the fine earth fraction. The BA horizon has weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure and friable or very friable consistence.

The B/E horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 or 6 in the B part and value of 5 through 7 and chroma of 2 or 3 in the E part. This horizon is sandy loam, silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. The B/E horizon has weak or moderate, medium or fine subangular blocky structure and friable or firm consistence.

The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is sandy loam, loam or sandy clay loam in the fine earth fraction. The Bt horizon has weak or moderate, medium or fine subangular blocky structure and friable or firm consistence.

The 2Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4, and may have few or common redoximorphic features. It is silty clay loam or silty clay with a clay content of between 40 and 55 percent. The 2Bt horizon has moderate or strong, medium through very coarse angular or subangular blocky or medium or coarse prismatic structure and firm or very firm consistence.

The 2C horizon colors are similar to those of the 2Bt horizon. The 2C horizon is silty clay, silty clay loam or clay and is commonly varved with silt or silt loam.

COMPETING SERIES: The Varysburg series is the only known soil in this family.

Chenango, Howard and Palmyra are similar soils in related families. All lack contrasting clayey textures in the lower B and C horizons. Also, Chenango soils lack argillic horizons.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Varysburg soils are nearly level to very steep on dissected lake plains. Slope ranges from 0 through 50 percent. The soils formed in a mantle of glacial outwash gravel over lake sediments high in clay. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 through 40 inches, mean annual air temperature from 45 through 49 degrees F., and mean growing season from 130 through 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alton, Canandaigua, Caneadea, Chenango, Howard, Hudson, Palmyra, and Rhinebeck soils. Alton soils occupy deep gravelly outwash areas and lack contrasting clayey B horizons. Canandaigua, Caneadea, Hudson, and Rhinebeck soils formed in deep silty or clayey lacustrine deposits that lack outwash mantles. In addition, Canandaigua, Caneadea, and Rhinebeck soils occupy wetter parts of the landscapes. Chenango, Howard, and Palmyra lack contrasting clayey textures in the lower B and C horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained and moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the mantle and low to moderately low in the clayey lacustrine material.

USE AND VEGETATION: Areas that have been cleared are used for growing hay, corn, and small grains. Potatoes and other vegetable crops are important locally. Woodlots contain red and sugar maple, American beech, ash, hemlock, oak and hickory.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Appalachian Plateau in New York. MLRA's 101, 139, and 140. The series is moderately extensive.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wyoming County, New York 1980.

REMARKS: The soils as mapped and correlated in Wyoming County, New York, lack interfingering of albic materials and are taxadjuncts to the series as presently defined.

Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedons are:
(1) Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 9 inches (Ap horizon).
(2) Glossic character - as evidenced by interfingering in the zone from 15 to 21 inches (B/E horizon).
(3) Argillic horizon - the zone from 21 to 41 inches (Bt1, 2Bt2, and 2Bt3 horizons).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.