LOCATION RUSHFORD NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Rushford channery silt loam on a 5 percent slope in a wooded area of mixed hardwoods. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A-- 0 to 4 inches, brown (10YR 4/3) channery silt loam; moderate very fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 15 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 4 to 9 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) channery silt loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 9 to 21 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) channery silt loam weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 20 percent rock fragments; few fine prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix in lower part; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 10 to 22 inches.)
Bx1-- 21 to 28 inches, pale brown (10YR 6/3) channery loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak fine subangular blocky; prism faces are 1/4 inch wide with gray (N 6/0) exteriors and brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) borders; very firm, brittle; 25 percent rock fragments; common fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick.)
2Bx2-- 28 to 36 inches, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; very weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thick platy; gray (N 6/) prism faces with brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) borders; firm, slightly brittle; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick.)
2C-- 36 to 72 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt loam, with some varves of dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium plate like divisions (inherited varves); firm; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cattaraugus County, New York; Town of Yorkshire, 1500 feet east of County Route 21 and Cagwin Road. USGS Delevan, NY topographic quadrangles; Latitude 42 degrees, 28 minutes, 20 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 27 minutes, 39 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 24 to 50 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. Thickness of the loamy mantle ranges from 20 to 60 inches. Rock fragments range from 15 to 35 percent by volume in the mineral surface layer and upper part of the subsoil and from 0 to 5 percent in the lower part of the subsoil and substratum. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral throughout the mineral soil, generally increasing with depth.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 1 through 4. Texture is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Thickness of the Ap horizon, where present, ranges from 4 to 9 inches thick.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse subangular blocky or granular. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The Bx horizon has hue, value and chroma similar to the Bw horizon. Fine earth texture is loam or silt loam. Structure is coarse or very coarse prismatic with platy, blocky or massive interiors. Consistence is firm or very firm and brittle.
The 2Bx horizon, when present, has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma or 2 through 4. Texture is silt loam or silt. Consistence is firm or very firm.
The 2C horizon has hue of 5YR to 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is silt or silt loam, and may contain thin varves of silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay. The material has plate like divisions, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Bath,
Braceville,
Broadalbin,
Ira,
Lackawanna,
Mardin,
Sodus,
Swartswood,
Wellsboro, and
Wurtsboro series in the same family. All of these series lack the nearly rock fragment free 2Bx and 2C horizon.
The
Canaseraga,
Langford,
Marilla, and
Williamson series are similar soils in related families. Canaseraga and Williamson soils have coarse-silty particle-size control sections. Langford soils have an argillic horizon. Marilla soils have a fine-loamy particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Rushford soils are gently sloping to sloping soils on elevated lake plains and end moraines in valleys. Slope ranges from 3 to 35 percent. The soils formed in till derived mainly from siltstone, fine-grained sandstone and shale that overlies lacustrine silts. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 50 degrees F., and the frost free season ranges from 110 to 150 days. These soils are at elevations that range from 900 to 1700 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Mardin soils, and the Allard, Dalton, Valois, Volusia, and Williamson soils are on nearby landscapes. Allard soils are associated in areas underlain with stratified sand and gravel. Dalton and Volusia soils are in associated low areas and are somewhat poorly drained. Valois soils are in nearby rolling landscapes and lack a fragipan layer. Williamson soils are in the coarse-silty family.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral soil above the fragipan, low to moderately high in the fragipan, and moderately high in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most gently sloping areas are cleared and used for hay and pasture with some corn and small grains. Native vegetation is mixed hardwoods of sugar maple, beech, white ash, black cherry and eastern white pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Appalachian Plateau in south western and south central New York. MLRA 140. The series is of small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Cattaraugus County, New York 2002.
REMARKS: Rushford soils have previously been mapped in Wyoming County as a Williamson channery silt loam variant; 2,200 acres has been mapped in Wyoming County and over 1,500 acres in Cattaraugus County.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 4 inches (A horizon).
2. Cambic Horizon - the zone from 4 to 21 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3. Fragipan - the zone from 21 to 36 inches (Bx1 and 2Bx2 horizons).