LOCATION CHAUTAUQUA NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Chautauqua silt loam on a 5 percent slope in a cultivated field at an elevation of 1640 feet. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap-- 0 to 7 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine and medium granular structure; friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 7 to 22 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; friable; many fine roots; 10 percent rock fragments; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2-- 22 to 34 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) gravelly silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; all faces of peds are light brownish gray (10YR 6/2); 25 percent rock fragments; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) areas of iron depletion in the matrix and common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation in the matrix; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 16 to 38 inches.)
C1-- 34 to 60 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silt loam; massive; firm; 30 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary.
C2-- 60 to 72 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly loam; massive; friable; 45 percent rock fragments; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Chautauqua County, New York; Town of Carroll; about 100 yards west of Hill Road and 10 yards south of powerline along Carroll and Poland town line. USGS Ivory, NY topographic quadrangle; Latitude 42 degrees, 05 minutes, 13 seconds N. and Longitude 79 degrees, 05 minutes, 16 seconds W., NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 22 to 45 inches. Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Rock fragments, mainly channers and gravel of siltstone, shale and sandstone, make up 3 to 15 percent of the surface layer, 5 to 30 percent of the subsoil and 15 to 45 percent of the substratum.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction. Structure is weak or moderate, medium or fine granular or subangular blocky. Consistence is friable or very friable. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid, unless the soil is limed.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 3 through 6 with few to common, fine to medium faint or distinct low and high chroma redoximorphic features at depths of 18 to 24 inches. It is silt loam or loam in fine earth fraction with more than 60 percent silt plus very fine sand. Structure is weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky. Consistence is very friable to firm. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5 and chroma of 2 through 4. It is silt loam or loam in the fine earth fraction with more than 60 percent silt plus very fine sand. Consistence is friable or firm. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: Pittstown, Pomton, Rainbow, Sutton, Wapping, Wilbraham, and Woodbridge are the only series currently in the same family. Pittstown, Rainbow, Wilbraham, and Woodbridge soils all have compact substrata (or horizon). In addition, Wilbraham soils have low chroma iron depletions throughout the B horizon. Pompton soils formed in outwash and have stratified sand and gravel C horizons. Sutton soils contain more sand throughout with less than 65 percent silt plus very fine sand. Also, rock fragments in Sutton soils are dominated by schist, gneiss and granite. Wapping soils have a lithologic discontinuity, having formed in a silty mantle that overlies till.
Ludlow, Montesa, and Watchaug series are in similar families. Ludlow soils have compact substrata (or horizon). Montesa soils formed in alluvium and receive 70 to 110 inches of precipitation annually. Watchaug soils have 5YR or redder hues throughout. Langford, Mardin and Schuyler series are similar soils in related families. Langford and Mardin soils contain fragipans. Schuyler soils have fine-loamy particle-size control sections.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chautauqua soils are nearly level to moderately steep soils on till plains, upland hilltops and valley side slopes. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. The soils formed in till derived mainly from siltstone, fine grained sandstone and smaller amounts of shale. Mean annual temperature is 46 degrees to 50 degrees F., mean annual precipitation is 30 to 45 inches and the mean growing season is 110 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Chautauqua soils are the moderately well drained member of a drainage sequence which includes the well drained Chadakoin soils, the somewhat poorly drained Busti soils and the poorly drained Ashville soils. Also associated are finer textured, wetter Fremont soils and finer textured Schuyler soils. Well drained coarser textured Chenango soils are on adjacent lower-lying outwash terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff is medium to high. Permeability is moderate in the solum and moderately slow in the substratum. A perched seasonal high water table is at depths of 18 to 24 inches from November to April.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are idle or are farmed at a moderate level of intensity. Cultivated crops such as small grains, corn and hay are grown in support of dairy operations. Woodlots contain sugar maple, white ash, black cherry and other hardwoods.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Glaciated Allegheny Plateau of south-western and central New York. MLRAs 139 and 140. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Established by correlation of Albany County, New York, 1985.
REMARKS: Chautauqua had previously been mapped as a coarse-loamy variant of the Schuyler series.
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in the typical pedon are:
1. Ochric Epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 7 inches (Ap horizon).
2. Cambic horizon - the zone from 7 to 34 inches (Bw horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data is available from the Cornell University Soils Laboratory for the Bw horizons. Sample No. S79NY13-11.