LOCATION BLAYDEN OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid, shallow Argiduridic Durixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Blayden loam, on a slope of 5 percent in sagebrush steppe at elevation of 4,450 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 3 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and few fine and medium roots; many very fine irregular pores; about 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.7); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
A2--3 to 7 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak thick platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and few fine and medium roots; many very fine irregular pores; about 15 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
Bt--7 to 15 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; common very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on ped faces and in pores; about 15 percent gravel; mildly alkaline (pH 7.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
2Bkqm--15 to 60 inches; white (N 8/ ) and very pale brown (10YR 7/4) duripan, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; platy; indurated white (N 8/ ) laminar cap about 3 to 10 millimeters thick at top of pan; strongly effervescent; duripan is stratified with sand and water-worn gravel and is weakly to strongly cemented below a depth of 22 inches.
TYPE LOCATION: Crook County, Oregon; SW1/4 SE1/4 SW1/4 section 33, T. 19 S., R. 22 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually dry, they are moist in winter and spring. They are warmer than 41 degrees F from April 1 to November 1, and they are dry within this period after July 1. The mean annual soil temperature is 44 to 47 degrees F. Depth to the indurated duripan is 12 to 20 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 11 inches thick. The particle-size control section contains 25 to 35 percent clay and 10 to 30 percent gravel.
The A horizon has value of 5 dry 3 moist and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. It is loam or sandy loam but in some areas it is loamy sand. It contains 5 to 25 percent gravel and 5 to 20 percent clay. It is neutral or mildly alkaline. It contains 10 to 30 percent glass and the acid oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half the acid oxalate iron is less than 0.4 percent.
The Bt horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is loam, sandy clay loam, and clay loam and contains 10 to 35 percent gravel. It has 25 to 35 percent clay. It is mildly or moderately alkaline.
The duripan is noncalcareous in the upper part in some pedons. It consists of stratified weakly to strongly cemented gravel and sand sediments below an indurated duripan to depths of 60 inches or more.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Arness (T), Espil and Vil series. Arness soils have a lithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Vil soils have secondary carbonates in the lower part of the solum and discontinuous opal laminae above the duripan. Espil soils have 35 to 45 percent clay in the Bt horizon and have a duripan at 8 to 14 inches. All of these soils lack the glass in the surface layer.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Blayden soils are on old high lake terraces at elevations of 4,100 to 4,800 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 12 percent. The soils formed in old lacustrine sediment with a capping of ash. The climate is characterized by cold, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 9 to 11 inches. The mean annual temperature is 43 to 45 degrees F, average January temperature is 27 to 29 degrees F, and average July temperature is 59 to 61 degrees F. The frost-free period is 50 to 90 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Beden and Ninemile soils. These soils have a lithic contact at 10 to 20 inches and lack a duripan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, moderate permeability above the duripan and very slow through the duripan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Blayden soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation mainly is Wyoming big sagebrush, Idaho fescue, Thurber needlegrass, and western needlegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains; MLRA 23. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Upper Deschutes River Area, Oregon, 1992.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features:
-Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A1 and A2 horizons)
-Argillic horizon - the zone from 7 to 15 inches (Bt horizon)
-Indurated duripan at 15 inches
NSTH 17, RECLASSIFICATION ONLY, 3/95
The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.