LOCATION GARHILL                 NV

Established Series
Rev. JVC-JBF
06/2016

GARHILL SERIES

The Garhill series consists of very shallow and shallow to a duripan, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from basalt with surficial deposits of eolian volcanic ash. Garhill soils are on hills, rock pediments, plateaus and mesas. Slopes are 2 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 180 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Typic Haplodurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Garhill very cobbly loamy fine sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 7 percent stones, 15 percent cobbles and 30 percent gravel.

A1--0 to 3 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very cobbly loamy fine sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 25 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles, and 7 percent stones; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 5 cm thick)

A2--3 to 13 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine vesicular and common very fine interstitial pores; 10 percent gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 13 cm thick)

Bk--13 to 23 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; common fine tubular and common very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 18 cm thick)

2Bqkm--23 to 58 cm; white (10YR 8/1) cemented material, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) moist; massive; extremely hard, extremely firm; 0.25 inch to 0.50 inch continuous indurated laminar cap alternating with zones strongly cemented by carbonates and silica; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt irregular boundary. (5 to 58 cm thick)

2R--58 cm; hard, fractured basalt bedrock with silica accumulation protruding down into fractures.

TYPE LOCATION: Mineral County, Nevada; about 11 miles east-southeast of Hawthorne; approximately 1,550 feet north and 450 feet east of the southwest corner of section 33, T. 8 N., R. 32 E.; USGS Kinkaid 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 30 minutes 24 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 25 minutes 40 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.5066667 latitude, -118.4277778 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 13 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to duripan: 18 to 36 cm.
Depth to bedrock: 30 to 76 cm to a lithic contact.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 25 percent, mainly gravel.

Other features - Duripan fragments and carbonate accumulation are common in subhorizons immediately above duripan in most pedons.

A horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Effervescence: Noneffervescent through violently effervescent.

Bk horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Gravelly loam or gravelly sandy loam.
Clay content: 18 to 25 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 35 percent, mainly gravel.
Structure: Weak or moderate subangular blocky or platy.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard dry.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.

Bqkm horizon
Value: 7 or 8 dry, 5 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 3 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Structure: Platy or is massive.
Other features: 3 to 20 mm continuous laminar cap. Strongly cemented, somewhat fractured indurated duripan with pockets of weakly cemented material.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Sodhouse, Tybo, and Univega series.

Sodhouse soils have cambic horizons and are not moist for 10 to 20 days in July to October. Tybo soils have 8 to 18 percent clay in the Bk horizon. Univega soils have less than 15 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. In addition, all of these soils lack bedrock within 100 cm.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Garhill soils are on hills, rock pediments, plateaus, and mesas formed by basalt flows. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium derived from basalt with surficial deposits of eolian volcanic ash. Slopes are 2 to 30 percent. Elevations are 1,370 to 2,045 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 150 to 200 mm, the mean annual temperature is 11 to 12 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 100 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Blacktop soil. Blacktop soils lack a duripan.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; very high surface runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Garhill soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly galleta, spiny menodora, shadscale, Indian ricegrass, Nevada ephedra, and bud sagebrush.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 29.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Esmeralda County, Nevada, 1984.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A1, A2 and part of the Bk horizons).
Duripan - The zone from 23 to 58 cm (2Bqkm horizon).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 58 cm to underlying hard, unweathered bedrock (2R layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 23 cm (A1, A2, and Bk horizons).

Future study of this series is needed to determine the amount of volcanic ash influence in the A horizons. Based on lab data from adjacent soils there is a strong possibility that volcanic glass contents in the A horizons are much greater than 30 percent.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Other authors and editors include: EWB-WED-RLB.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.