LOCATION CAVODE PA+KY MD NY WV

Established Series
Rev. AWD-WRK-ART
04/2002

CAVODE SERIES

The Cavode series consists of deep and very deep, somewhat poorly drained upland soils formed in residuum weathered from gray and yellow acid shale interbedded with siltstone and sandstone. Permeability is moderate to moderately slow in the surface layer and upper subsoil and slow in the lower subsoil and substratum. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 42 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 51 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, mesic Aeric Endoaquults

TYPICAL PEDON: Cavode silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 11 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick)

Bt--11 to 15 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; common fine roots; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; common medium distinct light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) iron depletions; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg1--15 to 21 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; few prominent clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent rock fragments; common fine prominent reddish yellow (5YR 6/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg2--21 to 30 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) iron and manganese coatings on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 10 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg3--30 to 47 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silty clay loam; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium platy; firm, moderately sticky and moderately plactic; few prominent clay films on faces of peds; few prominent black (10YR 2/1) coatings on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 10 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 24 to 39 inches.)

BCg--47 to 57 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) channery silt loam; weak medium platy structure; firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; 20 percent rock fragments; many medium prominent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 25 inches thick)

R--57 inches; gray clay shale.

TYPE LOCATION:Indiana County, Pennsylvania; Canoe Township 2.5 miles southeast of Rossiter, 1,320 feet west and 125 feet north of intersection of Legislative Route 32105 and Township Road T533. Latitude 40 degrees, 51 minutes, 39 seconds N. and Longitude 78 degrees, 55 minutes, 17 seconds W. NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness ranges from 30 to 60 inches. Depth to bedrock ranges from 40 to more than 80 inches. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the Ap and Bt horizons and from 0 to 60 percent in the BC and C horizons. The reaction ranges from extremely acid through strongly acid throughout, unless limed.

The Ap or A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Fine-earth texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.

Some pedons have E, BA, or BE horizons with colors and textures similar to the Bt horizon.

The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6, and it has redoximorphic features. Textures are silt loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay.

The Btg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, chroma of 1 or 2, and it has redoximorphic features. Fine-earth textures are silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay.

Some pedons have a thin horizon of weathered coal with black colors and loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam textures in the B or C horizons.

The BC, when present, has colors and textures similar to the C horizon.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 4, and it has redoximorphic features. Fine-earth textures range from silt loam to clay.

COMPETING SERIES:Tygart is the only other series in this family. It has less than 3 percent rock fragments throughout and occurs on terraces.

Canadea and Library are in a closely related family. Both of these soils have more than 35 percent base saturation.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cavode soils are on broad nearly level to moderately steep upland ridgetops, sideslopes, and benches with slopes of 0 to 25 percent. The soils developed in materials weathered from acid gray and yellow shale with some interbedded siltstone and thin-bedded sandstone. The climate is humid temperate. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 47 to 55 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 36 to 56 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Cavode is a member of a drainage sequence which includes the poorly drained Armagh and the moderately well drained Wharton soils. The Brinkerton, Ernest, Gilpin, Rayne, and Weikert soils are also nearby. All of these soils except Armagh average less than 35 percent clay in the particle size control section. The moderately well drained Ernest and poorly drained Brinkerton soils have fragipans. Gilpin, Rayne, and Weikert soils are well drained. In addition, Gilpin and Weikert soils have bedrock within 40 inches. Armagh soils have a gleyed matrix in all horizons between the Ap and the C horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained. The potential for surface runoff potential is negligible to very high. Permeability is moderate to moderately slow in the surface layer and upper subsoil and slow in the lower subsoil and substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: About 60 percent has been cleared for cropland or pasture. Wooded areas are in mixed hardwoods, mainly oaks.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA's 124, 125, 126 and 127 in western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and eastern Ohio. The series is of large extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE:Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED:Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1931.

REMARKS: The type location was visited and the pedon reclassified as part of the MLRA 126 soil survey Update in Southwestern Pennsylvania in November 1999 to place Cavode in the Endoaquult great group. This is consistent with the historic and contemporary concept of the series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 11 inches (Ap Horizon).
b. Argillic horizon - The zone from 11 to 47 inches (Bt and Btg horizons).
c. Aquic conditions at or near the surface - Redoximorphic features in all horizons between the Ap horizon and 15 inches.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Data for the typifying pedon published in Soil Survey for Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1968, sample No. S61 Pa-32-59(1-6), additional data available sample No. S73 Pa-10-37(1-11), No. S73 Pa-10-38(1-9), and No.S73 Pa-10-39(1-10).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.