LOCATION LAGUARDIA          NY NJ

LAGUARDIA SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Typic Udorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Laguardia gravelly sandy loam in a mugwort and golden rod area on a large smoothed pile of soil with 10 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless noted differently.)

Ap-- 0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine and medium roots; 30 percent fragments (15 percent brick and concrete fragments, 5 percent asphalt, and 5 percent glass gravel sized fragments, and 5 percent cobble-sized rock fragments); neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 12 inches thick.)

Bw-- 8 to 26 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very gravelly coarse sandy loam; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine roots; 45 percent fragments (25 percent brick and concrete, 5 percent asphalt, 5 percent metal, and 5 percent plastic gravel sized fragments and 5 percent cobble-sized rock fragments); neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (1 to 20 inches thick.)

C-- 26 to 79 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very gravelly coarse sandy loam; compaction related plate-like divisions; very friable; few very fine roots; 57 percent fragments (25 percent brick and concrete, 10 percent asphalt, 5 percent glass, 5 percent metal, and 5 percent plastic gravel sized fragments and 7 percent cobble sized rock fragments); neutral.

TYPE LOCATION: Kings County, New York; From the intersection of East 105th Street and Seaview Avenue, 1000 feet Southeast of the intersection; USGS Brooklyn, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 40 degrees, 38 minutes, 7 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 52 minutes, 52 seconds W. NAD 1983. (Rockwell GPS Receiver)

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the fill materials ranges from 40 to 80 inches. The transported construction debris may range in material of pieces of plastic, glass, rubber, bricks, lumber, asphalt, coal ash, unburned coal, gypsum board, concrete, and steel. The transported natural soil material may originate from any geologic deposit ranging from till, outwash, alluvium, coastal plain sediments, or residuum, usually from a local source. There is a distinction between materials that will hold water and allow roots to penetrate, and will decompose versus those that will act like a rock fragments. Total coarse fragments, both human artifacts and rocks, average 35 to 75 percent by volume in the control section. Content of anthropogenic coarse fragments, or human artifacts, is greater than 10 percent. Soil textures may include sandy loam, loam, or silt loam and gravelly, cobbly, stony, and bouldery texture phases can occur. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to neutral. Hue ranges from 2.5YR through 2.5Y throughout.

The Ap horizon have value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 6. It is defined by granular structure and by organic matter accumulation. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The B horizons have value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is defined by subangular blocky structure. Consistence is very friable or friable.

The C horizons have value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 8. Structure is plate-like divisions or massive. Consistence is friable or firm.

COMPETING SERIES: The Fairpoint and Kaymine series are in the same family. Fairpoint and Kaymine soils have less than 10 percent (by volume) of construction debris fragments within the control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Laguardia soils are on nearly level to steeply sloping artificially created or modified landforms. These soils formed in construction debris intermingled and mixed with natural soil materials. The construction debris material commonly originates from the demolition of buildings and roads. The dominant coarse fragments in the construction debris are concrete, asphalt, bricks, coal ash, and steel with some sedimentary and metamorphic rocks sparsely intermingled. The transported soil material is dominantly from locally excavated upland materials such as alluvium, till, outwash, or coastal plain sediments. Slope ranges from 0 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 50 inches. Mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 63 degree Fahrenheit.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Canarsie (T), Centralpark (T), Foresthills (T), Greatkills (T), Greenbelt (T) and Inwood (T). Canarsie, Centralpark, Foresthills, and Greenbelt soils average less than 35 percent coarse fragments in the control section. Greatkills soils have garbage within the control section. Inwood soils average more than 90 percent coarse fragments (by volume) within the particle 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, runoff is one class higher where the soil is unvegetated or the surface is poorly protected from erosion or compacted. Permeability is moderate in areas where the soil has not been compacted at the surface, but is slow where it has surface compaction or platy structure.

USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of these soils are used for recreation, wildlife habitat, or industrial and urban development. These soils are generally covered with common weeds, common reed, and mugwort if deposited in sunny locations; by turfgrass if the area is used for recreation, and invasive 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 compaction at the surface. 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 where common reed density is high. Recreational use is unlikely in areas where the surface is unsmoothed, or where the surface stones and boulders have not been removed or covered.

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 in extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts.

SERIES PROPOSED: Bronx County, New York; 1997.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - 0 to 3 inches.
b. Particle size class - Loamy-skeletal (10 to 40 inches)

The Bw does not meet the color requirements of a Cambic horizon. It was called a Bw based on structure alone.