Soil Data Explorer - ELKA

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the ELKA soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of ELKA, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to ELKA were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-13). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

There are insufficient data to create the lab data summary figure.

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the ELKA soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the ELKA series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

There are insufficient data to create the sibling sketch figure.

Select annual climate data summaries for the ELKA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the ELKA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D terrace figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Competing Series

Soil series competing with ELKA share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the ELKA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the ELKA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D terrace figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with ELKA, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

Click a link below to display the diagram. Note that these diagrams may be from multiple survey areas.

1. NY-2010-09-28-11 | Delaware County - 2006

   Typical pattern of soils and geologic materials in the Willowemoc-Lewbeach-Onteora and the Vly-Halcott-Mongaup general soil map units (Soil Survey of Delaware County, New York; 2006).

2. NY-2012-02-15-25 | Greene County - February 1993

   Typical pattern of soils and underlying material in the Lewbeach-Willowemoc-Onteora association (Soil Survey of Greene County, New York; February 1993).

3. NY-2012-02-15-45 | Sullivan County - July 1989

   Typical landscape pattern of the soils and the underlying material in the Willowemoc-Mongaup-Lewbeach general soil map unit (Soil Survey of Sullivan County, New York; July 1989).

Map Units

Map units containing ELKA as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Elka-Vly channery silt loams, 15 to 35 percent slopes, very stony	ElE	25684	290481	9r8c	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka-Vly channery silt loams, 35 to 70 percent slopes, very stony	ElF	9338	290482	9r8d	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka-Vly channery silt loams, 3 to 15 percent slopes, very stony	ElC	3677	290480	9r8b	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka-Vly channery silt loams, 5 to 15 percent slopes	EkC	2330	290478	9r88	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka-Vly channery silt loams, 15 to 25 percent slopes	EkD	1069	290479	9r89	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka channery silt loam, 15 to 25 percent slopes	EdD	368	290476	9r86	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka channery silt loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes	EdC	291	290475	9r85	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka channery silt loam, 25 to 35 percent slopes	EdE	188	290477	9r87	ny025	1999	1:24000
Elka channery loam, moderately steep, very stony	EmD	18852	291624	9sg7	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka channery loam, very steep, very stony	EmF	3073	291625	9sg8	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka channery loam, strongly sloping, very stony	EmC	2918	291623	9sg6	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka channery loam, 15 to 25 percent slopes	ElD	577	291622	9sg5	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka channery loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes	ElC	571	291621	9sg4	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka channery loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes	ElB	400	291620	9sg3	ny039	1985	1:24000
Elka loam, 15 to 25 percent slopes, bouldery	ElD	2376	295066	9x18	ny105	1984	1:15840
Elka loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes, bouldery	ElC	2313	295065	9x17	ny105	1984	1:15840
Elka loam, 25 to 35 percent slopes, bouldery	ElE	1213	295067	9x19	ny105	1984	1:15840
Elka loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes, bouldery	ElB	1070	295064	9x16	ny105	1984	1:15840
Elka loam, 35 to 50 percent slopes, bouldery	ElF	785	295068	9x1b	ny105	1984	1:15840

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the ELKA soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).