LOCATION BATH NY +PAEstablished Series
The Bath series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in till. They are nearly level to steep soils on uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual temperature is 47 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation is 42 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bath channery silt loam, on an 8 to 15 percent slope, in hay field. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap-- 0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) channery silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; strong medium and fine granular structure; friable; many very fine and common medium roots; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 9 to 14 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular structure; friable; common very fine and many fine and a few medium roots; common fine and medium vesicular and common fine tubular pores; 15 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2-- 14 to 20 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery silt loam; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and common fine roots; common fine and medium vesicular and common fine tubular pores; 25 percent rock fragments, 5 percent 3 to 10 inches in size; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 10 to 20 inches.)
E/B-- 20 to 26 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) 60 percent and brown(7.5YR 4/4) 40 percent; channery loam; friable; few fine roots; common medium tubular and many very fine and common fine vesicular pores; thin discontinuous silt coats in some pores and on some peds; 25 percent rock fragments, 3 percent 3 to 10 inches in size; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick.)
Bx1-- 26 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) channery silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure; massive within prisms; prisms separated by streaks about 1 inch wide, 10 to 30 inches apart with a pale brown (10YR 6/3) interior and a strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) border; slightly firm and brittle; many medium and fine vesicular pores; 30 percent rock fragments, 5 percent 3 to 10 inches in size; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) iron concentrations surrounding pale brown (10YR 6/3) iron depletions; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick.)
Bx2-- 36 to 72 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) channery silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure, massive within prisms; prisms separated by streaks about 1 inch wide, 10 to 30 inches apart with a pale brown (10YR 6/3) interior and a strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) border; firm and brittle; few coarse vesicular pores; few medium distinct dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) soft manganese concretions; 45 percent rock fragments, 10 percent 3 to 10 inches in size, 2 percent greater than 10 inches; common medium distinct light brown (7.5YR 6/4) iron depletions; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Delaware County, New York; Town of Sidney, 75 feet west of Road 13, 1000 feet south of the intersection of Road 13 and Parker Hollow Road. USGS Unadilla, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 17 minutes, 44 seconds N. and Longitude 75 degrees, 19 minutes, 09 seconds W. NAD 1927. Elevation 1320 feet.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 80 inches. Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 22 to 38 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 40 inches to 20 feet or more. Rock fragments, primarily angular or subrounded sandstone or siltstone but in some pedons shale, range from 2 to 40 percent in individual horizons above the fragipan, and from 15 to 65 percent in the fragipan and C horizons. The soil ranges from very strongly through moderately acid in horizons above the fragipan, unless limed, from very strongly through slightly acid in the fragipan and from strongly acid through moderately alkaline in the C horizon.
The Ap horizons have hues of 10YR or 2.5Y, values of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Dry colors have value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 2 to 4. They are silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Undisturbed areas have thin dark A horizons and some have thin E horizons. Thin BA horizons are allowed. Some undisturbed pedons have a thin O horizon.
The Bw horizons have hues of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, values of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 8. They are silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction with more than 60 percent silt plus very fine sand.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, values of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3, with or without few faint to prominent redoximorphic features. Texture is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is subangular blocky or platy.
The Bx horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 5, chroma of 3 to 6 with redoximorphic features in most pedons. They range from silt loam to sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. They have platy, subangular blocky, or blocky structure within very coarse prisms or are massive within very coarse prisms. Consistence is firm or very firm.
The Cd horizon, where present, has color and fine-earth texture similar to the Bx horizon. Some pedons are slightly effervescent and calcareous.
COMPETING SERIES: The Braceville, Broadalbin, Ira, Lackawanna, Mardin, Rushford (T), Sodus, Swartswood, Wellsboro, and Wurtsboro series are in the same family. Braceville soils have stratified sand and gravel in the lower part of the series control section. The Lackawanna and Wellsboro soils have hues of 5YR or redder in the fragipan. Broadalbin soils have coarse fragments dominated by granite and gneiss. Ira, Sodus, Swartswood, and Wurtsboro soils have less than 60 percent silt plus very fine sand in the fine-earth fraction above the fragipan. Mardin soils have common or many redoximorphic features in the Bw horizons. Rushford(T) soils have redox features in the Bw and a lacustrine substratum.
Bernardston, Broadbrook, Ludlow, Montauk, Nantucket, Newport, Paxton, Pittstown, Rainbow, Scituate, Wethersfield, and Woodbridge soils are in related families. The Bernardston, Broadbrook, Ludlow, Montauk, Nantucket, Newport, Paxton, Pittstown, Rainbow, Scituate, Wethersfield, and Woodbridge soils all lack a fragipan. Wethersfield soils have hues of 5YR or redder throughout the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bath soils are gently sloping to steep soils on uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. The soils formed in loamy till derived largely from gray and brown siltstone, sandstone and shale. The climate is temperate and humid. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 46 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F.; and the frost-free season ranges from 120 to 160 days. Elevation ranges from 800 to 1800 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: The competing Lackawanna, Mardin, Swartswood, Wellsboro and Wurtsboro soils as well as the Arnot, Chadikoin, Lordstown, Valois, and Volusia soils are on nearby landscapes. Arnot and Lordstown soils have bedrock within 40 inches. Volusia soils are somewhat poorly drained. Chadikoin and Valois soils lack a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to high. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan and slow or very slow in and below the fragipan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for growing general farm crops. Wooded areas contain northern hardwoods and some white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Allegheny Plateau in Pennsylvania and New York. MLRA's 140 and 144A. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Tioga County, Pennsylvania, 1929.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are as follows: (1) Ochric Epipedon - the
zone from 0 to 9 inches (the Ap horizon)
(2) Cambic Horizon - the zone from 9 to 20 inches (the Bw horizon)
(3) Fragipan - the zone from 26 to 72 inches (the Bx horizons).