CORRELATION OF SOILS

The National Soil Survey Handbook (Soil Survey Staff, 1996) gives specific guidelines for correlation (matching) of soil series with the soils found in this survey area. In most cases, soil surveys are large areas with several hundred thousand acres or more. This soil survey is very limited in size, and is the first modern, intensive survey on Staten Island. Therefore, the soil series named are the ones that provide the closest fit possible and are still in a preliminary correlation stage, subject to update and change by NRCS soil scientists as more data becomes available. A typical pedon was sampled and described for each soil series that was thought to represent the most typical properties of that series in the survey area. Any differences between the typical pedon and the established soil series properties are noted below.

o The Arnot typical pedon is different than the Arnot soil series because it formed almost exclusively from fragments of nonacidic Serpentinite bedrock instead of more acidic rocks such as sandstone, siltstone, or shale.

o The Branford typical pedon is different from the Branford soil series because it has a gradual textural change from sandy loam to sandy textures. It closely resembles the browner colored Riverhead soil for properties and interpretations.

o The Cheshire typical pedon is different than the Cheshire soil series because the rock fragment content is about half of the amount normally described in the upper part (A and Bw1 horizons).

o The Ludlow typical pedon is different than the Ludlow soil series because the rock fragment content is about half of the amount normally described in the upper part (A and Bw1 horizons) and the lowest layer (Cd2 horizon); the pH is higher than 6.0 in the lowest layer, when it normally is more acidic (lower than 6.0).

o The Manchester typical pedon is different than the Manchester soil series because the rock fragment content is higher (more than 80%) in the subsoil (Bw3 horizon) than normally (less than 50%) found.

o The Maplecrest typical pedon is different then the Maplecrest soil series because its textures have more total sand and larger sand size. Maplecrest closely resembles the browner colored and sandier textured Valois soil series properties and interpretations.

o The Penwood typical pedon is different than the Penwood soil series because the topsoil (A horizon) reaction (pH) is extremely acid instead of moderately acid.

o The Rippowam typical pedon is different than the Rippowam soil series because the surface texture is a silt loam, which is much siltier than the fine sandy loam textures normally found. The silt loam surface layer of the similar soil series called Lim closely fits the properties of the Rippowam map unit (46) with silt loam surface texture. The Rippowan map unit (47) with fine sandy loam surface textures fits well within the range for the Rippowam soil series.

o The Wallkill typical pedon is different than the Wallkill soil series because the topsoil (A horizon) is twice as thick as is normally found. Wallkill is not normally mapped in marshes, and the topsoil normally has less organic matter than is found in this survey.

o The Wethersfield typical pedon is different than the Wethersfield soil series because the textures in the lower half of the soil have larger size sand grains than is normally found. The majority of the Wethersfield mapped on top of the terminal moraine is this way, while the bulk of  the Wethersfield mapped in lower areas in the landscape fall within the series range for textures.