LOCATION VENANGO OH NJ NY PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Fragiaqualfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Venango silt loam, on a convex, 2 percent slope in mixed hardwoods at an elevation of about 1,025 feet above msl. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap-- 0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; moderate fine and medium granular structure; friable; about 2 percent rock fragments; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick.)
E-- 9 to 13 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few (less than 15 percent by volume) medium faint light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay depletions on faces of peds; few fine faint light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; about 2 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 13 to 17 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt coats on faces of peds; common fine distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; common fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; about 4 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2-- 17 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; many prominent pale brown (10YR 6/3) and light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt coats on faces of peds; few medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix; few medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; about 4 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw is 3 to 20 inches.)
Btx1-- 21 to 41 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak thick platy; very firm and brittle; few prominent gray (5Y 5/1) iron depleted clay films on vertical faces of peds; many prominent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt coats and sand coats on faces of peds; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) rind along the outer edge of the prisms; common medium black (10YR 2/1) soft manganese oxide accumulations in the matrix; about 4 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Btx2-- 41 to 46 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure; very firm and brittle; few prominent gray (5Y 5/1) iron-depleted clay films on vertical faces of peds; common distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt coats and sand coats on vertical faces of peds; about 4 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Btx is 14 to 44 inches.)
C-- 46 to 80 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) loam; massive; firm; few prominent gray (5Y 5/1) iron-depleted clay films in vertical cleavage in till; few fine black (10YR 2/1) soft manganese oxide accumulations in the matrix; about 10 percent rock fragments; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Ashtabula County, Ohio; about 2.4 miles southeast of Andover, in Andover Township, 2,225 feet north of the intersection of Pymatuning-Lake Road (County Road 274) and Marvin Road (Township Road 269), then 1,250 feet east. T. 9 N., R. 1 W.; USGS Andover, OH USGS topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 35 minutes, 1 second N. and Longitude 80 degrees, 32 minutes, 12 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 36 to 72 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 14 to 28 inches. Depth to carbonates is variable within short distances, ranging from 36 to greater than 80 inches. The particle size control section averages 18 to 30 percent clay. The calcium carbonate equivalent ranges from 2 to 10 percent.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 (6 or more dry), and chroma of 2 or 3. Undisturbed pedons have A horizons 1 to 3 inches thick that have hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3. Texture is silt loam, loam or their channery analogues. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse, granular. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid. Areas that have been limed range to neutral.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is silt loam, loam or their channery analogues. Structure is weak, fine or medium, subangular blocky or platy. Rock fragments range from 0 to 25 percent. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Bw or BE horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 8. Texture is loam, silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam or their channery analogues. Structure is weak or moderate, fine to coarse, angular or subangular blocky. Rock fragments range from 2 to 25 percent. Reaction is extremely acid to moderately acid.
The Btx horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam or their channery analogues. Structure is weak to strong, very coarse prismatic parting to weak or moderate, fine or medium, subangular blocky, or weak, thin to thick, platy. Rock fragments range from 2 to 25 percent. Reaction is slightly acid to very strongly acid in the upper part and neutral to strongly acid in the lower part.
The BC horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is loam, silt loam, or their channery analogs. Structure is weak, coarse or very coarse, subangular blocky. Rock fragments range from 2 to 25 percent. Reaction is strongly acid to neutral.
The C or CB horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is loam, silt loam or their channery analogues. Rock fragments range from 2 to 25 percent. Reaction is neutral to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Abbottstown, Buckingham, Gresham, Portville, and Ravenna series. Abbottstown have hues 5YR or redder in the B horizon. Buckingham soils have hues of 5YR or redder in the substratum. Gresham soils have a Bt above the fragipan. Portville soils formed in colluvium and reaction in the substratum ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid. Ravenna soils have a horizon above the fragipan that has clay films.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Venango soils formed in Wisconsinan age till strongly influenced by acid siltstone, sandstone and shale, with a minor component of limestone and are on convex flats, slight rises, low summits, shoulders and sideslopes on till plains and moraines. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 29 to 43 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 51 degrees F. The frost free period is 110 to 167 days, and elevation ranges from 400 to 1,800 feet above msl.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alden, Blakeslee (T), Cambridge, Chenango, Chippewa, Darien, Gageville, Manlius, Mill (T), Nassau, Pierpont and Red Hook and Wallpack soils. The Alden, Chippewa, Manlius, Nassau, and Wallpack soils are typically associated in the extreme southern portions of MLRA 144A.
The very poorly drained Alden soils are in lower positions on the landscape and lack a fragipan. The moderately well drained Cambridge soils on higher landscape positions, and the poorly drained Mill (T) soils on lower landscape positions are in a drainage sequence with Venango soils. The somewhat excessively drained Chenango soils, moderately well drained Blakeslee (T) soils and somewhat poorly drained Red Hook soils are on nearby outwash terraces. The poorly and very poorly drained Chippewa soils are in lower positions on the landscape. The moderately well drained Gageville (T) and Pierpont soils, and somewhat poorly drained Darien soils do not have a fragipan and are on similar nearby till plains. The Manlius and Nassau soils are better drained on nearby uplands and are 20 to 40 inches and 10 to 20 inches to bedrock, respectively. The well drained Wallpack soils are higher on the landscape and have less than 18 percent clay in the subsoil.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff is high or very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high above the fragipan and moderately low or low in the fragipan and in the substratum. Depth to the top of an intermittent perched seasonal high water table ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 foot from November to May in normal years.
USE AND VEGETATION: A large part of this soil is used for cropland. Other uses are pasture, hayland and woodland. Many areas of abandoned cropland are reverting to trees and brush. Crops include wheat, oats, timothy, clover, corn, buckwheat, birdsfoot trefoil, and some alfalfa and soybeans. Native vegetation was deciduous forest with beech, sugar maple, wild cherry, and red maple being the main species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, the Hudson Valley of New York, and New Jersey. MLRA 139, 140, and 144A. The series is of large extent, about 276,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Crawford County, Pennsylvania, 1946.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - from a depth of 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - from a depth of 9 to 21 inches (E, Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
3. Argillic horizon and fragipan feature - from a depth of 21 to 46 inches (Btx1 and Btx2 horizons).
4. Udic moisture regime.
This revision reflects a change in taxonomic classification due to updates in the 8th Edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Competing series may change as similar soils are reclassified.
The typifying pedon was revisited and described using current terminology during the modernization of the Soil Survey of Ashtabula County, Ohio, published 1973, and its location description was updated.
It is anticipated that soils mapped as Venango on slopes greater than 12 percent will be correlated as other series during future MLRA update activities.
The Venango silt loam, sandstone substratum phase mapped in the Soil Survey of Ashtabula County, Ohio, published 1973, was correlated as the Mitiwanga series during the modernization of that survey.
A very stony phase is recognized.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Refer to pedon AB-S11 for characterization data on the typical pedon, sample numbers 10206 to 10216 from Ashtabula County, Ohio; samples analyzed by the Ohio State University Soil Characterization Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio. Other pedons sampled for characterization data include AB-S2 and AB-38.