LOCATION WILLDIN NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, frigid Typic Fragiudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Willdin channery silt loam on a 5 percent slope in a hayfield. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) channery silt loam; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; many fine and few medium and coarse roots; 15 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 through 12 inches thick.)
Bw-- 7 to 14 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) channery silt loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine and few medium roots; common fine and few medium vesicular and tubular pores; 25 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 through 21 inches thick.)
E-- 14 to 17 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) channery silt loam; weak thin and medium platy structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; common fine and medium vesicular pores; 25 percent rock fragments; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 through 5 inches thick.)
Bx1-- 17 to 22 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery silt loam; moderate, very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak coarse subangular blocky; prisms are 16 to 28 inches across; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) faces of prisms with brown (7.5YR 4/4) borders, streaks are 1/4 inch to 1-1/2 inches wide; firm and brittle; few fine roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on surfaces along pores and on some vertical faces of peds; 30 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bx2-- 22 to 27 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) channery silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak coarse subangular blocky; prisms are 16 to 28 inches across; gray (10YR 5/1) faces of prisms and brown (7.5YR 4/4) borders; streaks are 1/4 inch to 1-1/2 inches wide; firm and brittle; few fine roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on surfaces along pores and on some vertical faces of peds; 30 percent rock fragments; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the lower part; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bx3-- 27 to 44 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and brown (10YR 4/3) channery silt loam; moderate very coarse prismatic structure parting to weak coarse subangular blocky structure; prisms are 16 to 29 inches across; gray (10YR 5/1) faces of prisms and brown (7.5YR 4/4) borders; very firm and brittle; few fine roots along faces of prisms; many fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores with many faint dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay films in pores and on some faces of peds; 25 percent rock fragments; common fine faint yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) and few fine prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bx horizons is 18 through 50 inches.)
C-- 44 to 80 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) channery silt loam; weak very coarse prismatic structure in upper part grading to massive in lower part; gray (10YR 5/1) faces of prisms and olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) borders; very firm; 25 percent rock fragments; common coarse distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) masses of iron accumulation within the matrix; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Otsego County, New York, Town of Middlefield, 500 feet west of the intersection of Shipway Road and Hayes Road, and 100 feet south of Hayes Road. Elevation 1990 feet. USGS East Springfield, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 47 minutes, 22 seconds N. and Longitude 74 degrees, 48 minutes, 34 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 38 to 75 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches below the mineral surface. Depth to the top of the fragipan ranges from 16 to 26 inches below the mineral surface. Rock fragments, dominantly channers and flagstones, range from 5 to 35 percent by volume in the mineral soil above the fragipan, from 15 to 50 percent in the fragipan; and from 15 to 60 percent in the substratum. The fine-earth fraction of the Bx and C horizons have over 50 percent silt plus very fine sand. Redoximorphic features are present beginning at a depth of 12 to 24 inches below the mineral surface.
Some pedons have an O horizon that is slightly (fibric) or moderately (hemic) decomposed plant material.
The Ap or A horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam. Structure is weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable. Reaction, in unlimed areas, ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6, and chroma of 3 through 8. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam. Structure is weak or moderate subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable. Reaction, in unlimed areas, ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid.
In some pedons an E horizon is present above the Bx horizon with hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam, fine sandy loam, or loam. Reaction, in unlimed areas, ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.
The Bx horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Texture of the fine-earth fraction is silt loam or loam. Structure is coarse or very coarse prismatic with platy, blocky, or massive interiors. Consistence is firm or very firm, and is brittle. Common or many redoximorphic concentrations are present. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid through slightly acid.
The C horizon, if present, is massive, with color and texture similar to the Bx horizon. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: The Pinckney series is in the same family. Pinckney soils have a lithologic discontinuity above the fragipan.
The Bath, Lackawanna, Lewbeach, Lewbath, Mardin, Newfound, Onteora, Ontusia, Shelburne, Simoda, Willowemoc, and Wellsboro series are similar soils in related families. Bath, Lackawanna, Mardin, and Wellsboro soils have a mesic temperature regime. Lewbeach and Lewbath soils lack redoximorphic features above the fragipan and have a semiactive cation exchange activity class. Newfound soils are superactive, have thinner sola and have sandy loam textures above the fragipan. Onteora and Ontusia soils have an aquic moisture regime. Shelburne soils are oxyaquic and have rock fragments dominated by schist and siliceous limestone. Simoda soils have a fine-loamy particle-size control section. Willowemoc soils are semiactive and, have hues of 2.5YR or 5YR in the lower subsoil (fragipan) and the substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Willdin soils are on uplands of glaciated dissected plateaus and till plains and are mainly on slightly convex hilltops and hillsides. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The soils developed in firm till derived from sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Mean annual temperature ranges from 42 through 45 F, mean annual precipitation ranges from 35 through 45 inches, and mean annual frost-free days ranges from 90 through 120 days. Elevation ranges from 1750 feet through 2500 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Willdin soils are the moderately well drained member of a drainage sequence which includes the well drained Lewbath soils, the somewhat poorly drained Ontusia soils, and the poorly drained Norchip soils. Moderately deep, well drained Mongaup soils, and well drained, moderately deep or deep Cuyler soils, and shallow, somewhat excessively drained and well drained Hawksnest soils are closely associated on nearby landforms where the soil mantle is thinner over bedrock. Valois soils are on adjacent sides of valleys where the till is less dense.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is high or very high. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the mineral surface layer and the upper part of the subsoil and low through moderately high in the lower part of the subsoil (fragipan) and the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cleared areas are used for growing corn for silage, small grains, hay, and pasture. A significant acreage has reverted to woodland or brush. Native vegetation is sugar maple, American beech, northern red oak, black cherry, and white ash. Brush areas often contain blueberry, spirea, Hawthorne (thorn apple), and poplar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and Southern New York. MLRA 140. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otsego County, New York, 1993.
REMARKS: This series is the frigid equivalent of the Mardin series, and the brown colored equivalent of the Willowemoc series. Original classification of Willdin placed it in the subgroup Typic Fragiochrepts, but because of changes established in the 8th edition of "Keys to Soil Taxonomy", this soil now classifies in the subgroup of Typic Fragiudepts.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 7 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 17 inches (Bw and E horizons).
3. Fragipan - within the upper 100 cm of the mineral surface-the zone from 17 to 44 inches (Bx1, Bx2, and Bx3 horizons).
4. Udic soil moisture regime.
5. CEC activity class of active based on the average CEC7/TC ratio for two pedons (S85NY077-03 & S86NY077-11)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Cornell University Soil Characterization Lab data is available for this pedon (S86NY077-11), and for another pedon from Otsego County, New York (S85NY077-03).