LOCATION GOMPERS UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, frigid Aridic Lithic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Gompers very channery silt loam on a north facing 12 percent slope under pinyon pine and Utah Juniper at an elevation of 6,520 feet. (Colors are for air-dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
The surface is covered by 45 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones.
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very channery silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; moderate thin platy structure parting to moderate very fine subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine, few medium roots; common very fine and fine, few medium vesicular pores; 25 percent channers; slightly effervescent, (24 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
C1--3 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very channery loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine, few medium roots; common very fine, fine, and medium tubular pores; 35 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones; slightly effervescent, (28 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary.
C2--8 to 18 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) extremely channery loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine, common medium roots; few very fine and fine tubular pores; 70 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones; slightly effervescent, (30 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary. (combined thickness of C horizons is 7 to 15 inches)
R--18 inches; fractured shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Uintah County, Utah; along the southeast portion of Indian Ridge on the USGS Bates Knoll, Utah Quadrangle; about 2,100 feet west and 3,800 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 6, T.14S., R.23E., SLBM; 39 degrees, 37 minutes, 32 seconds north latitude and 109 degrees, 22 minutes, 59 seconds west longitude. NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is affected by precipitation that is evenly distributed throughout the year with a slight increase in late summer and fall. The soil moisture regime is ustic bordering on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 44 to 47 degrees F.
Depth to lithic contact: 5 to 20 inches to fractured shale or sandstone bedrock
Particle-size control section: 8 to 18 percent clay and 35 to 80 percent rock fragments (channers and flagstones from shale and sandstone lithology)
A horizon:
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry or moist
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 30 percent
C horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry or moist
Texture: extremely channery loam, extremely channery sandy loam, very channery loam, or extremely channery sandy loam
Rock fragments are in horizontal beds of shale and sandstone that have soil material between the rock fragments and in cracks.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 30 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no current competitors. A competitor prior to the Eighth Edition, 1998 Keys to Soil Taxonomy is the Reva series. Reva soils have soil moisture control sections affected by peak periods of precipitation in the spring and early summer.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and colluvium over residuum derived from calcareous shale and sandstone
Landform: hillslopes
Slopes: 4 to 80 percent
Elevation: 6,500 to 8,000 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 16 inches
Mean annual air temperature: 42 to 45 degrees F.
Frost-free period: 90 to 110 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Bigpack,
Iceslew,
Pherson,
Towave, and
Whetrock soils.
Bigpack soils are on alluvial flats and are very deep.
Whetrock soils have mollic epipedons.
Iceslew soils are fine-loamy with a high water table and are on floodplains.
Pherson soils are very deep and are on drainageways.
Towave soils are on hillslopes and are very deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to high runoff; moderately rapid and moderately permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally for rangeland, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Potential vegetation consists of pinyon pine, Utah juniper, bluebunch wheatgrass, Salina wildrye, Indian ricegrass, and birchleaf mountainmahogany. This soil has been correlated to Upland Shallow Loam (Pinyon-Utah Juniper) - 034XY322UT range site in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Utah. LRR D, MLRA 34. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Uintah County (Uintah Area Soil Survey) Utah, 1998.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 18 inches. (C2 horizon)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 3 inches. (A horizon)
Lithic contact: The contact with fractured shale at 18 inches. (R layer)
NSSL Sample No. S80UT047-1
The cation exchange activity class was inferred from laboratory data from similar soils in the Uintah Area Soil Survey.
The surface texture modifier was determined following the guidelines outlined in the Utah document, "Procedures for Distributing Rock Fragments on the Surface Layer into the Upper 6 inches of Soil and Subsequent Naming of Map Units, April 1979."
Taxonomic version: Eighth Edition, 1998.