LOCATION OQUAGA NY NJ PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Oquaga very channery silt loam, forested. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A-- 0 to 4 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) very channery silt loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine, common medium and coarse roots; 40 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 4 to 11 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) and red (2.5YR 4/6) very channery loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure parting to fine granular structure; very friable; many fine, common medium and coarse roots; many fine irregular pores; 36 percent coarse fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 11 to 28 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) very channery loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; many fine and few medium roots in the upper part of the horizon, many fine roots in the lower part; many fine irregular pores; 45 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 16 to 32 inches.)
BC-- 28 to 34 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) and dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) very channery loam; massive; friable; few medium roots; 45 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick.)
2R-- 34 inches plus; weak red (10R 4/3) thinly bedded shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Sullivan County, New York; Town of Bethel, 0.35 mile west on NY Rte. 17B from the intersection of route 17B and White Lake Road, then 0.35 miles north and 0.25 miles west on a gravel road; Elevation 1400 feet. USGS Bethel, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 41 degrees, 40 minutes, 51 seconds N. and Longitude 74 degrees, 51 minutes, 01 second W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Content of rock fragments ranges from 15 to 60 percent in surface horizons and from 25 to 85 percent in individual layers in the remainder of the soil. Unless limed, reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid throughout the soil.
Some pedons have a thin O horizon.
The A or Ap horizon has hues ranging from 2.5YR to 10YR, values of 2.5 to 5, and chromas of 2, 3 or 4. Dry color value is 6 or more. It is channery or very channery, and the fine earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam. It has granular or subangular blocky structure, and very friable or friable consistence. Some pedons have an E horizon at a depth of less than 5 inches.
The Bw horizon has hues of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, values of 3 to 6, and chromas of 3 to 8. The fine earth fraction is silt loam or loam. It has weak or very weak granular or subangular blocky structure and very friable to firm consistence.
The BC horizon has properties similar to the B and C horizons.
The C or 2C horizon, when present, have hues of 10R to 7.5YR, values of 3 to 5, and chromas of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, loam or silt loam in the fine earth fraction. It is massive, with or without plate-like divisions.
COMPETING SERIES: The Chamate, Chenango, and Tunkhannock series are in the same family. Chamate soils are developed in residuum or colluvium. Chenango and Tunkhannock soils are very deep.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Oquaga soils are in uplands and formed in a thin mantle of reddish till with lithology dominated by the local and underlying reddish sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Slope ranges from 0 to 70 percent. The climate is humid and temperate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 50 inches; mean annual air temperature from 46 degrees to 52 degrees F., and mean growing season from 120 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the shallow Arnot and Tuller soils and the very deep Lackawanna, Wellsboro, and Morris soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained. Internal drainage is medium. The potential for surface runoff is negligible to very high. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the soil is forested or used for unimproved native pasture. Hay, small grains, and corn are produced on the gentler slopes. Native vegetation is sugar maple, beech, white pine, white ash, oak and hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New York, northern Pennsylvania, and northwestern New Jersey. MLRA 127, 140, and 144A. The series is extensive with an estimated more than 100,000 acres.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Allegany County, New York, 1946.
REMARKS: A new pedon was selected since the Allegany Co. pedon may no longer fit the series concept. This series was used in MLRA 127. The use of a series with glacial parent material in MLRA 127 is questionable.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1. Udic soil moisture regime (a humid, temperate climate).
2. Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 4 inches (A horizon)
3. Cambic horizon - from 4 to 28 inches (Bw and BC horizons)
Characterization data is available for 1 pedon from Sullivan Co. NY (S79NY105 9).