LOCATION WINHOLE NY

Established Series
LAH-JTI
01/2014

WINHOLE SERIES

The Winhole series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in deposits of incinerator fly ash. The soil occurs on anthropogenic landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 13 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is about 1196 mm.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Aquic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Winhole sandy loam in an abandoned military field with 0 to 3 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise differently.)

^Au--0 to 15 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) sandy loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine roots throughout; 5 percent fragments (2 percent bricks, 1 percent metals, 1 percent glass, 1 percent rock fragments); neutral; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 25 cm thick.)

^Cu1--15 to 50 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam; massive; very friable; many very fine and fine roots throughout; 10 percent fragments (4 percent bricks, 2 percent metals, 2 percent glass, 2 percent rock fragments); few coarse prominent reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) redoximorphic concentrations; neutral; clear wavy boundary.

^Cu2--50 to 76 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) sandy loam; massive; very friable; 10 percent fragments (4 percent bricks, 1 percent metals, 1 percent glass, 2 percent carboliths, 2 percent rock fragments); many coarse prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) redoximorphic concentrations; neutral; clear wavy boundary.

^Cu3--76 to 114 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) sandy loam; massive; very friable; 10 percent fragments (4% bricks, 1 percent metals, 1 percent glass, 2 percent carboliths, 2 percent rock fragments); few fine distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) depletions; neutral; clear wavy boundary.

^Cu4--114 to 165 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) gravelly sandy loam; massive; very friable; 15 percent fragments (5percent bricks, 2 percent metals, 5 percent glass, 2 percent carboliths, 1 percent rock fragments); few fine distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) depletions; neutral.

TYPE LOCATION: Kings County, New York; Floyd Bennett Field North 40 Zone, Gateway National Recreation Area; USGS Coney Island topographic quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 35 minutes, 47.74 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 54 minutes, 0.52 seconds W. (Rockwell GPS Receiver), NAD 1983.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the fly ash materials is generally more than 1.5 meters thick. Hues are N/ , 10Y, 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 0 to 6. Textures include silt loam, loam and sandy loam. Fragments of coal, slag, brick, glass and metals range from 0 to 30 percent. Rock fragments raneg fom 0 to 5 percent throughout . The depth to depletions, where present, occurs between 60 and 100 cm. Reaction ranges from slightly acid to slightly alkaline.

The ^Au horizon may be defined more on the relative abundance of roots than anything else. The structure is very fine granular or it is structureless. Organic carbon accumulation is difficult to identify by morphology.

The ^Cu horizons have distinctly fewer roots than the ^A horizon, but otherwise look similar. It is structureless. Redoximorphic concentrations are common.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Winhole soils are on nearly level to steep, artificially created landforms in fill areas. These soils formed in fly ash that resulted from industrial burning of coal. Some areas may be covered with a thin cap of natural soil as a prevention of wind blowing. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1021 to 1325 mm. Mean annual temperature ranges from 8 to 17 degrees Celsius.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Fishkill, Flatland, and Hassock soils are on nearby landscapes. Fishkill and Flatland soils occur in depressions. Hassock soils occur on higher landscape positions. Fishkill soils have a water table immediately below the ^A horizon. Flatland soils have a water table at 25 to 60 cm. Hassock soils have a water table at greater than 100 cm.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is very low to medium. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are generally densely covered with common reed. Other vegetation species includes mugwort, Golden Rod, Black locust, Tree of Heaven, Multiflora rose, Poison Ivy, Poplar, Black Cherry, Grey Birch, White Mulberry and Japanese knotweed. Planted species include Autumn Olive. Reclamation is unlikely because there is no natural vegetation to restore, and the areas vegetate naturally after deposition ceases. These soils are used for recreational development and wildlife refuge.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils occur on modified landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. MLRAs 144A and 149B. The soils of this series are small extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kings County, New York, 2014. Series propsoed Kings County, New York, 1995.

REMARKS: Winhole soils are mapped in the soil survey areas of the Gateway National Recreation Area and the initial survey areas of Kings and Queens Counties, NY. The soils are of minimal extent (less than 1,000 acres), however they are of unique importance to users of the soil surveys.

Winhole soils often exhibit an irregular decrease in organic carbon with depth however this is a result of anthropogenic filling (deposition) not alluvial deposition; excluding them from the concept of Fluvents. Proposed revisions to soil taxonomy in ICOMANTH Circular Letter 7 developed for anthropogenic soils will help to clarify this difference.

Carbolith is a name coined at West Virginia University to describe dark colored sedimentary rocks that will make a black or very dark (Munsell color value of 3 or less) streak or powder. Rocks under this name include coal not scheduled for mining, impure waste coal, bone coal, high carbon siltstones, and high carbon shale.

Fly ash supplies accumulated over more than one hundred years of time when hard coal was the main source of heating and producer of heat for production of electricity. The material often contains debris tossed into furnaces during burning.

Particle size class control section characterization data from pedonS99NY047005 used for this soil.

Due to the recent deposit of this material and the low organic matter content normal redoximorphic processes have not progressed. The aquic conditions have been observed and are being used as the basis for the classification.

The CEC activity class is estimated.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
1. Ochric epipedon-the zone from 0 to 15 cm (^Au horizon) .
2. Rock fragments in the particle-size control section averages less than 35 percent by volume.
3. Aquic conditions observed in the zone from 60 to 100 cm (^Au, ^Cu1, and parto f the ^Cu3 horizon).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.