LOCATION LANGFORD NY PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Langford silt loam on a 4 percent slope in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 9 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 9 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; common fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 15 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few fine roots; common fine pores; many medium and coarse faint pale brown (10YR 6/3) and few fine reddish brown (5YR 4/4) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 6 to 26 inches.)
Bx1-- 21 to 34 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium and coarse subangular blocky; firm, slightly brittle; few fine roots along prism faces; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on surfaces along pores; prism faces 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick are light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) with yellowish red (5YR 4/6) rinds; few medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion and prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; 15 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bx2-- 34 to 45 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; massive; firm, slightly brittle; common fine and medium pores; common faint clay films on all faces of pores; few medium distinct light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) areas of iron depletion and common fine faint brown (7.5YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulations within the matrix; 15 percent rock fragments; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bx horizon is 9 to 44 inches.)
C-- 45 to 72 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; massive; firm; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly effervescent, moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Chautauqua County, New York; town of Ripley, 0.7 mile east of Sinder Road and 150 feet south of Sulphur Springs Road. South Ripley, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 10 minutes, 28 seconds N. and Longitude 79 degrees, 41 minutes, 20 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 34 to 60 inches. Depth to carbonates is 36 to 65 inches. Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 15 to 28 inches. Bedrock is at depths greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments, mainly gravel, channers, and flagstones, range from 5 to 35 percent above the fragipan and commonly 15 to 60 percent in the fragipan and substratum. Some pedons, below depths of 40 inches, have layers that do not have rock fragments.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to slightly acid, unless limed.
Uncultivated pedons have an A horizon, 2 to 5 inches thick, with hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 through 3.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is very weak to moderate subangular blocky, platy or granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
Some pedons have an E horizon above the Bx horizon that has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 through 7, and chroma of 2 and 3. Texture is similar to the Bw horizon. Consistence is friable or firm.
The Bx horizons have hues of 7.5YR through 5Y, values of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Structure is very coarse prismatic that commonly parts to subangular blocky, or the horizon is massive. Consistence is firm or very firm and the material is slightly brittle. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly alkaline and is neutral within a depth of 40 inches.
Some pedons have a transitional BC or CB horizon with color and texture similar to the Bx or C horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. It is massive or has plate like divisions. Consistence is firm or very firm. Reaction ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline. Some pedons have a 2C horizon that is high in silt content and low in rock fragment content.
COMPETING SERIES: The Marilla series is the only series in the same family. Marilla soils are very strongly acid to slightly acid within a depth of 40 inches, do not have carbonates in the substratum, and formed in till derived from dark shale.
The Bath, Broadalbin, Cambridge, Canaseraga, Ira, Lackawanna, Mardin, Montauk, and Wurtsboro series are similar soils in related families. Bath, Broadalbin, Ira, Lackawanna, Mardin, Montauk, and Wurtsboro soils have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section. Cambridge soils have an argillic horizon in the fragipan. Canaseraga soils have a coarse-silty particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Langford soils are on convex to planar hillsides and hilltops in glaciated uplands. Some areas are drumloidial hills. Slope ranges from 0 to 50 percent. These soils formed in till derived from siltstone, sandstone, shale, and some limestone. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 30 to 45 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 47 to 50 degrees F., and mean growing season ranges from 120 to 180 days. These soils are at elevations between 1,100 and 1,800 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chenango, Chippewa, Erie, Howard, Lordstown, Mardin, and Valois soils. Chenango and Howard soils, and more poorly drained associates, are on nearby glaciofluvial terraces and outwash plains. Erie and Ellery soils, somewhat poorly drained and poorly drained, respectively, are in a drainage sequence with Langford soils. Lordstown soils occupy higher bedrock controlled landscapes. Competing Mardin soils, in nearby geographic areas, have a lower clay content and more acid reaction in the subsoil. Valois soils are formed in glaciofluvial material and lacks a fragipan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to very high. Permeability is moderate above the fragipan, and slow to very slow in and below the fragipan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared and are used mainly for corn, oats, hay, and pasture. A significant acreage is idle. Woodlots contain sugar maple, beech, red oak, black cherry, white ash, white pine, and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The glaciated Appalachian Plateau of central and southern New York and north-west Pennsylvania. MLRA's 100, 101, 139, 140, and 144A. These soils are extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Erie County, New York, 1929.
REMARKS: The Langford series was previously classified as Aqueptic Fragiudalfs, however, recent laboratory characterization confirms that these soils do not have enough illuviated clay to qualify as an argillic horizon.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (Ap horizon).
b. Cambic horizon - the zone from 9 to 21 inches (Bw horizon).
c. Fragipan - the zone from 21 to 45 inches (Bx horizon).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data is available for the typical pedon from Cornell University Soil Survey Laboratory - pedon number S83NY013-01. Additional verifying data also available for pedons S84NY013-01 and S84NY009-01.