LOCATION VOLUSIA NY PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Fragiaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Volusia channery silt loam, on a 2 percent slope in an idle field. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) channery silt loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 20 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick.)
E-- 8 to 13 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) channery silt loam; very weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; common fine roots; many fine pores; 20 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick.)
Bx1-- 13 to 26 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) channery silt loam; strong very coarse prismatic structure; very firm, brittle; few roots between prisms; common fine pores; common faint clay films lining pores; prisms separated by thin grayish brown (10YR 5/2) wedges with yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) outer borders; silt coats on faces of prisms; 30 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) iron depletions in ped interiors; strongly acid; diffuse smooth boundary.
Bx2-- 26 to 38 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) channery loam; strong very coarse prisms 12 to 30 inches across, discontinuous cleavage planes within prisms; very firm, brittle; common fine pores with common faint dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay films; silt coats on faces of prisms; 30 percent rock fragments; many distinct coarse olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and few large prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; moderately acid; diffuse smooth boundary.
Bx3-- 38 to 60 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very channery loam; massive; very firm, brittle; common fine pores with common faint clay films; 40 percent rock fragments; few medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; slightly acid; diffuse smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bx horizon is 20 to 64 inches.)
C-- 60 to 72 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very channery loam; weak thick lenticular plate-like divisions; very firm; common fine pores with few faint clay films; 40 percent rock fragments; slightly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Cortland County, New York; 1 mile west and 1/4 mile north of Truxton, and 1 mile east of Haights Gulf Road. USGS Truxton, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 42 minutes, 56 seconds N. and Longitude 76 degrees, 3 minutes, 11 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 40 to 72 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 10 to 22 inches. Rock fragments, mainly channers, gravel and flagstones, range from 5 to 30 percent by volume in the solum above the Bx horizon, and from 5 to 50 percent in the Bx horizon. Rock fragments in the C horizon commonly range from 10 to 60 percent.
The Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 or 3. Dry color value is 6 or more. It is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have a thin A horizon 2 to 5 inches thick. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid, unless limed.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. It has common or many, distinct or prominent redoximorphic features in chroma higher than the matrix. Texture is loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction with clay content between 18 and 27 percent. It has platy or blocky structure or is massive, and is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.
Some pedons have a Bw or Bg horizon with hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture is similar to the E horizon.
The Bx horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 6, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is dominantly loam or silt loam in the fine-earth fraction but ranges to clay loam or silty clay loam. It has weak to strong coarse or very coarse prismatic structure with blocky, platy, subangular blocky, or massive prism interiors. Clay films coat most pore walls and can be in some depressions on vertical cleavage faces. Consistence is firm through extremely firm. It has few or common and faint to prominent redoximorphic features. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is loam to silty clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. It is massive or has lenticular plate-like divisions. Consistence is firm or very firm. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through slightly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: The Erie and Wiscoy series are in the same family. The Erie soils are neutral or mildly alkaline in the lower part of the solum. Wiscoy soils have silty lacustrine materials with less than 5 percent rock fragments within depths of 20 to 40 inches.
Related series in other families are the Dalton, Fremont, Morris, Norchip, Ontusia, Platea, Scriba, Stissing and Venango soils. Platea and Venango soils have argillic horizons in the fragipan. Dalton soils have coarse-silty particle-size control sections. Fremont soils do not have a fragipan. Morris, Scriba, and Stissing soils have coarse-loamy particle-size control sections. Norchip and Ontusia soils have frigid temperature regimes.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Volusia soils occupy long uniform slopes. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. They are on lower valley sides and on broad divides of maturely dissected glaciated plateaus. The Volusia soils developed in firm basal till derived from siltstone, sandstone and brittle shale or slate. They are underlain by lacustrine materials in some areas. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 48 inches, mean annual temperature ranges from 46 to 50 degrees F., and mean growing season ranges from 110 to 150 days. These soils mostly occur at elevations between 1200 and 1800 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alden, Bath, Chenango, Chippewa, Dalton, Halsey, Howard, Lordstown, Mardin, and Wurtsboro series. Alden soils are wetter drainage associates on toeslopes and in depressions. Well drained Bath soils and moderately well drained Mardin soils are better drained associates on higher convex landscapes. Chenango, Halsey, and Howard soils are on nearby glacial outwash terraces. Dalton soils are associated where coarse silty deposits overlie the till. Lordstown soils are common associates that are moderately deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat poorly drained. Internal drainage is slow or very slow. The potential for surface runoff is low to very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity in the mineral soil above the fragipan is moderately high or high and in the fragipan and substratum it is low to moderately high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of this soil have been cleared but some are now growing up with a cover of brush and forbes. Cleared areas are used for pasture or for growing hay, oats and corn for silage. Woodlots contain sugar maple, red maple, American beech, hemlock and associated species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Allegheny Plateau of New York and northern Pennsylvania. MLRA 101, 139, 140, and 144A. The soil is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chautauqua County, New York; Westfield area, 1901.
REMARKS: Volusia is a Hall of Fame series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 13 inches (Ap and E horizons).
2. Fragipan - the zone from 13 to 60 inches (Bx horizons). 3. Aquepts suborder - aquic moisture regime, and matrix or ped faces of 2 chroma or less and redoximorphic features within 20 inches of the soil surface (E and Bx1 horizons).
4. Aeric subgroup - a zone within 30 inches of the surface that has dominant chroma higher than 2 in 40 percent or more of the matrix (Bx1 horizon).
5. Udic soil moisture regime (a humid, temperate climate).