LOCATION BAKERPEAK NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic Xeric Calcicryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Bakerpeak very gravelly loam--forestland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with approximately 70 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles and 1 percent with stones.
Oi--0 to 3 cm; slightly decomposed plant material consisting of fir and pine needles; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 5 cm thick)
A1--3 to 5 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 40 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)
A2--5 to 13 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 45 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)
Bk1--13 to 33 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 60 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; secondary calcium carbonate segregated as common concretions on bottom of rock fragments; 38 percent calcium carbonate in less than 20 millimeter fraction; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (18 to 41 cm thick)
Bk2--33 to 53 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; many very fine, common fine, and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 60 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; secondary calcium carbonate concretions as many pendants on bottom of rock fragments; 62 percent calcium carbonate in less than 20 millimeter fraction; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6) clear wavy boundary. (20 to 38 cm thick)
Bk3--53 to 76 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine, and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 60 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; secondary calcium carbonate concretions as many pendants on bottom of rock fragments; 60 percent calcium carbonate in less than 20 millimeter fraction; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary. (20 to 90 cm thick)
Bk4--76 to 155 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine, and few medium roots in pockets; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 70 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; secondary calcium carbonate concretions as many pendants on bottom of rock fragments and finely disseminated in the matrix; 75 percent calcium carbonate in less than 20 millimeter fraction; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6)
TYPE LOCATION: White Pine County, Nevada; about 0.75 mile south of Pole Canyon Creek and adjacent to the west boundary of Great Basin National Park; USGS Wheeler Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 53 minutes 34 seconds N and longitude 114 degrees 20 minutes 05 seconds W; UTM Zone 11, 731157e, 4308249n, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually moist in winter, spring, and early summer, dry in all parts at least 45 consecutive days following the summer solstice (July and August), but intermittently moist in the upper part for 10 to 20 days cumulative due to convection storms between July and September; Xeric soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 4 to 7 degrees C.
Mean summer soil temperature - 7 to 8 degrees C.
Depth to calcic horizon - 25 to 50 cm.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 12 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 50 to 80 percent, mainly gravel and cobbles. Lithology of fragments is limestone.
A horizons - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 2 through 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Reaction: Neutral through moderately alkaline.
Bk1 horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Clay content: 18 to 25 percent.
Texture: Loam or sandy loam.
Rock fragments: 50 to 80 percent, mainly as gravel.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard, dry.
Reaction: Neutral through moderately alkaline.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 10 to 15 percent in the material less than 2 mm; 25 to 50 percent in the less than 20 mm fraction.
Bk2, Bk3, and Bk4 horizons - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Loam or sandy loam.
Clay content: 12 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 50 to 80 percent, mainly as gravel.
Structure: Subangular blocky or massive.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard dry.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 25 to 35 percent in the material less than 2 mm; 60 to 75 percent in the less than 20 mm fraction.
Identifiable secondary carbonates: Common to many concretions on rock fragments, usually increasing with depth; Masses or filaments are not present in all pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adek, Bealand, Linpeak Piar and Windwash series.
Adek soils have Bkq horizons and have a depth to the calcic horizon of 5 to 18 cm.
Bealand soils contain less than 50 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section and have Bkq horizons.
Linpeak soils average 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle-size control section, have a depth to the calcic horizon of 75 to 100 cm, and are moderately acid to slightly acid in the surface horizon.
Piar soils are deep to a lithic contact.
Windwash soils are moderately deep to a lithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bakerpeak soils are on mountains. They typically occur on backslope positions. These soils formed in colluvium derived from limestone and thin strata of interbedded calcareous shale. Slopes are 15 to 75 percent. Elevations range from 2,200 to 3,340 meters. The climate is moist, subhumid with cold, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 450 to 700 mm, the mean annual temperature is 3 to 6 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 40 to 60 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Canyoung and
Haunchee soils.
Canyoung soils have mollic epipedons.
Haunchee soils are shallow to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; high surface runoff; moderate permeability; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Bakerpeak soils are used for watershed, recreation, and wildlife habitat. The potential native vegetation is mainly a forest canopy of white fir, Douglas-fir, limber pine, ponderosa pine, and quaking aspen with an understory of snowberry, manzanita, ribes, and curlleaf mountainmahogany. This site is correlated to Ecological Site F28AY080NV, Rocky Mountain White Fir-Rocky Mountain Douglas-Fir-creeping bareberry-mountain snowberry\bluegrss-sedge.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 28A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: White Pine County, Great Basin National Park, Nevada. The name Bakerpeak is coined. This soil was called Freetpeak prior to 2005.
REMARKS: The revision of 4/2008, updates the classification from frigid to cryic.
The draft of July 2005 revised the series name from Freetpeak to Bakerpeak, removed the presence of a cambic horizon, and adjusted all horizon depths for the Oi horizon as the soil surface.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Organic soil material - The zone from the soil surface to 3 cm (Oi horizon).
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (Oi, A1, and A2 and upper part of Bk1 horizons).
Calcic horizon - The zone from 33 to 155 cm (Bk2, Bk3, and Bk4 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 28 to 103 cm (25 to 100 cm below the mineral soil surface) (Bk2 and Bk3 horizons and parts of the Bk1 and Bk4 horizons).