LOCATION WILLIAMSON NY PA

Established Series
Rev. MGC-JWW-PSP
07/2011

WILLIAMSON SERIES

The Williamson series consists of deep, moderately well drained soils on lake plains and uplands. They are nearly level to sloping soils formed in silty or very fine sandy lacustrine or eolian deposits. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow or very slow in the fragipan. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F., mean annual precipitation from 28 to 40 inches and mean growing seasons from 140 to 180 days.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Williamson silt loam - orchard (Colors are for moist broken soil.)

Ap -- 0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)

Bw -- 8 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; many fine pores; few fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)

E -- 15 to 20 inches; coarsely intermingled light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; common fine roots; common medium pores; common fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and few medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)

Bx1 -- 20 to 34 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silt loam; strong very coarse prismatic structure; prisms are separated by 1/2 to 1/16 inch of light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very fine sandy loam with yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; very thick plates (4 to 8 inches) within prisms are separated by very thin bands of light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very fine sandy loam; very firm, brittle; many 2 to 4mm vertical holes with thin clay linings on surfaces along pores; few roots along faces of prisms; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bx2 -- 34 to 48 inches; layers of brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; 1 to 4 inches thick are separated by 1/8 to 1/2 inch lamellae of light brown (7.5YR 6/3) very fine sandy loam; massive; firm, brittle; few roots; many 1mm and common 2 to 4mm vertical holes with clay linings on surfaces along pores; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of Bx horizons is 8 to 38 inches.)

C -- 48 to 72 inches; layers of brown (7.5YR 4/4) firm silt loam and pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) friable very fine sandy loam; massive within layers; common distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix in the lighter parts; strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Wayne County, New York; town of Huron, 1.0 mile east of the village of Alton, 100 feet north of Highway 104, 200 feet west of a steep slope. USGS Rose, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 43 degrees, 12 minutes, 51 seconds N. and Longitude 76 degrees, 57 minutes, 33 seconds W., NAD 1927.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of solum ranges from 35 to 60 inches. Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 15 to 24 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent throughout the soil. Unless limed, soil reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid in the solum and strongly acid to neutral in the substratum.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is fine sandy loam to silt loam. The Ap horizon has weak to moderate granular or subangular blocky structure and friable or very friable consistence. Thickness of the A horizon is 2 to 5 inches thick.

The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 through 6 and may have faint redoximorphic features above 12 inches. It is very fine sandy loam or silt loam. The Bw horizon has very weak, weak, or moderate granular, angular blocky, or subangular blocky structure and friable or very friable consistence.

The E horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 5 through 7 and chroma of 2 to 4 and few through many, distinct or prominent redoximorphic features. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. It is massive or has weak or moderate, thin or medium platy structure.

The Bx horizon has hues of 5YR through 2.5Y, values of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4 and few or common, medium or coarse, faint through prominent redoximorphic features. Prisms are separated by materials like that in the E horizon. The Bx horizon is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. It is massive or it has weak or moderate very coarse prismatic structure and parts to platy structure in some pedons. It is firm or very firm and brittle.

The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam and is commonly stratified. Some pedons have loamy very fine sand below depths of 40 inches. The C horizon is massive or has plate like divisions inherited from depositional layers. Soil reaction increases as depth increases.

COMPETING SERIES: The Amboy and Canaseraga soils are members of the same family. Amboy soils lack common distinct to prominent redoximorphic features above 24 inches. Canaseraga soils have a lithologic discontinuity with 10 to 40 percent coarse fragments below the discontinuity.

Similar soils in related families are the Allard, Scio, and Unadilla, all of which lack fragipans, and Rushford soils. Rushford soils have coarse-loamy particle-size control section with rock fragments from 15 to 35 percent allowed in the surface and upper subsoil layers.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Williamson soils are on lake plains and uplands mantled by wind or water-deposited silt and very fine sand. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 50 degrees F., mean annual precipitation from 28 to 40 inches and mean growing seasons from 140 to 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Williamson soils are in a drainage sequence with the well drained Amboy and the somewhat poorly drained Wallington soils. Other associated soils are the Arkport, Bath, Collamer, Colonie, Dunkirk, Hudson, Mardin, and Rhinebeck. Arkport and Colonie are on similar landforms but contain more sand and lack fragipans. Bath and Mardin soils, associated on uplands, formed in glacial till deposits. Collamer, Dunkirk, Hudson and Rhinebeck soils are associated on lake plains and all have argillic horizons and lack fragipans. In addition Hudson and Rhinebeck soils formed in deep clayey lacustrine deposits.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to high. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow or very slow in the fragipan.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared. Dominant crops are corn, small grains, hay and vegetables with some pasture and fruit trees. Woodlots are of sugar maple with red oak, beech, hop hornbeam, black ash and other northern hardwoods.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Erie-Ontario plain, Mohawk Valley, Hudson Valley and the southern part of the St. Lawrence Valley of New York. Locally in valleys of the glaciated Allegheny Plateau. MLRAs 101, 139, 140, 142, and 144A. The series is moderately extensive.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Madison County, New York, 1955.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 8 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic Horizon - the zone from 8 to 20 inches (Bw and E horizons).
3. Fragipan - the zone from 20 to 48 inches (Bx1 and Bx2 horizons).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.