LOCATION CENTRALPARK NYTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Centralpark gravelly sandy loam in a turfgrass area on a large smoothed pile of soil on a 1 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless noted differently.)
A-- 0 to 2 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many very fine and fine plus common medium and coarse roots; 24 percent gravel and 1 percent cobble-sized rock fragments; few broken glass fragments; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick.)
Bw-- 2 to 11 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) extremely gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common very fine and fine plus few medium and coarse roots; few fine and medium pores; 43 percent gravel, 10 percent cobble, and 10 percent stone-sized rock fragments; few broken glass fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick.)
C1-- 11 to 18 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) very stony course sandy loam; massive; friable; common very fine plus few fine and medium roots; no pores observed; 29 percent gravel, 10 percent cobble, and 15 percent stone-sized rock fragments; very few broken glass fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick.)
C2-- 18 to 40 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) extremely stony sandy loam; massive; firm; few fine and medium roots; 40 percent gravel, 15 percent cobble, and 20 percent stone-sized rock fragments; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (12 to 24 inches thick)
C3-- 40 to 55 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) extremely stony sandy loam; massive; friable; few fine and medium roots; 25 percent gravel, 15 percent cobble, and 20 percent stone-sized rock fragments; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of C horizons is 28 to 54 inches.)
Ab-- 55 to 56 inches; black (N 2/) mucky silt loam; massive; compacted; very friable; few fine and medium roots; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick.)
Bwb-- 56 to 80 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) loam; massive; compacted; friable; few fine and medium roots; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Richmond County, New York: From the intersection of Forest Hills Avenue and Independence Avenue, 400 feet southwest on Forest Hills Avenue, 200 feet southeast on an unnamed road, 430 feet northeast on an unnamed road, then 40 feet southeast on the southwest face of the fill area; USGS Arthur Kill, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 34 minutes, 15.27 seconds N. and Longitude 74 degrees, 9 minutes, 55.39 seconds W. (Rockwell GPS Receiver); NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the fill materials ranges from 40 to 80 inches. The anthrotransported fill may be any geologic deposit ranging from till, outwash, alluvium, coastal plains sediments, or residuum, usually from a very local source. Rock fragments range from 5 to 70 percent, and the textures include sandy loam, loam, or silt loam and gravelly, cobbly, and stony phases of those textures. Consistence is very friable to firm. The firm layers are usually not root restricting and do not perch water. Reaction ranges from very strongly to slightly acid in unlimed areas and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline in areas that have been limed.
The A or Ap horizon in the transported soil have hue of 2.5Y through 2.5YR, value of 3, 4, or 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is defined by granular structure and by organic matter accumulation. Consistence is very friable or friable. Pieces of B horizon material are commonly mixed in. Some pedons contain buried horizons with similar colors and subangular blocky structure.
The B horizons in the transported soil have hue of 2.5Y through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. Structure is subangular blocky, and fine roots are generally common to many. Consistence is very friable or friable. Some pedons contain buried horizons with similar colors and subangular blocky structure.
The C horizons in the transported soil have hue of 2.5Y through 2.5YR, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is massive and may have plate-like divisions. Consistence is friable to firm.
The buried soil horizons have properties similar to the corresponding layers in nearby undisturbed soils.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chenango, Oguaga, and Tunkhannock in the same family. None of these soils have a control section formed in anthrotransported materials. In addition, Chenango and Tunkhannock soils have dominantly water sorted materials within the series control section. Oquaga soils have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Centralpark soils are on nearly level to steeply sloping artificially created or modified landforms. These soils formed in anthrotransported soil material. Some pedons have a natural subsoil below 40 inches that is either a buried pedon or shows evidence of being a truncated soil. The anthrotransported soil material is relatively clean of refuse, with less than 10 percent pieces of plastic, glass, bricks, concrete, and metal. The transported soil material is dominantly from locally excavated upland materials such as alluvium, weathered till, outwash, or coastal plain sediments. Dominant rock fragments are derived mainly from sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Higher slopes occur when the soil is formed in unleveled mounds. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 50 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 63 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Canarsie (T), Foresthills (T), Greatkills (T), and Greenbelt (T) soils. Greenbelt (T) soils average less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section. Canarsie (T) and Foresthills (T) average less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section and have less than 40 inches of transported material. Greatkills (T) soils have garbage in the control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to medium on vegetated slopes less than 8 percent, and high to very high on vegetated slopes 8 percent and greater. The potential for surface runoff is one class higher where the soil is unvegetated or the surface is poorly protected from erosion. Permeability is moderate in areas where the soil has not been compacted, but is moderately slow where it has been compacted. The substratum does not have dense till layers within 40 inches of the soil surface.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are generally covered with common weeds, raspberry, common reed, and mugwort if deposited in sunny locations; by turfgrass if part of a recreation area, and native forest understory plants if deposited in a shady location. Trees quickly spread lateral roots into fill areas deposited near them. The reed density decreases and the mugwort increases in areas with compacted surface layers. The more compacted areas support sparse populations of various grasses, annuals, and perennials that invade disturbed areas. The looser dumps are quickly covered with early succession hardwood seedlings from nearby sources. Reclamation is difficult in smoothed, compacted areas or where common reed density is high. Recreational use is unlikely in park areas where the surface is unsmoothed, or where the surface stones and boulders have not been removed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils occur on modified landscapes in and near major urbanized areas of the Northeast. MLRA 144A and 149B. The soils of this series are small extent.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.
SERIES PROPOSED: Richmond County, New York; 1995.
REMARKS: (1) Lithochromic mottles have inherited their colors from rocks. (2) Complete characterization data collected as pedon S95NY085-032.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A and Bw horizon).
b. Buried soil begins at the top of the Ab horizon.
c. The classification of this series is provisional until new Taxonomic classifications are developed for Anthropogenic soils.