LOCATION NELSCOTT OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, isotic over mixed, isomesic, ortstein Typic Durorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Nelscott silt loam, forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; litter of partially decomposed leaves, needles, twigs, cones and moss.
A--1 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam, dark grayish brown and brown (10YR 4/2, 5/3) dry; moderate very fine subangular blocky and granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; weakly smeary; many fine and very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; extremely acid (pH 4,8); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
AB--9 to 16 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) and dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable and firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; weakly smeary; many fine and very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--16 to 30 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silty clay loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) dry; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; weakly smeary; few very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; few fine yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) masses of iron accumulation and few fine gray (10YR 6/1) iron depletions in lower 3 inches; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
2E--30 to 37 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loamy fine sand, light gray (2.5Y 7/2) dry, massive or weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm or brittle, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine tubular pores; common coarse brown (10YR 5/3) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) masses of iron accumulation; strongly acid (pH 5.2) abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
2Bsm--37 to 49 inches; variegated grayish brown (10YR 5/2), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moderately cemented fine sand with pockets of weakly cemented fine sand; massive; extremely hard, extremely firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine tubular pores; strongly acid (pH 5.4); gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
2C--49 to 61 inches; variegated light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2), yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) and brown (7.5YR 4/4) fine sand; massive; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine irregular pores; thin weakly cemented bands; strongly acid (pH 5.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, Oregon, along powerline Southeast of Southbeach PUD shops; about 1200 feet west and 200 feet south of the NE corner of section 20, T. 11 S., R. 11 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. The difference between mean summer and mean winter soil temperature varies from 5 to 9 degrees F. The soil has a udic moisture regime, but has a short dry period of less than 45 days during the four-month period following the summer solstice. Depth to bedrock is over 60 inches. Depth to the Bsm horizon is 24 to 40 inches. The particle-size control section averages 18 to 30 percent clay.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry, chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. Fine concretions range from 0 to 10 percent. It is very strongly acid to strongly acid.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 5 to 7 dry, chroma of 3 through 6 moist and dry. It is loam, clay loam or silty clay loam with 18 to 30 percent clay. It is very strongly acid or strongly acid.
The 2E horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 moist, 6 to 8 dry, and chroma of 1 to 3 moist and dry. It is fine sand or loamy fine sand with 1 to 5 percent clay. It is strongly acid or moderately acid. In some pedons on ridgetops and steeper side slopes where drainage is better, the E horizon is more weakly expressed.
The 2Bsm horizon has variegated colors, hue of 10YR to 2.5YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 through 8. It is weakly to strongly cemented. Typically, the stronger cementation is in the thin nearly continuous reddish colored bands rather than the softer intervening layers.
The 2C horizon has variegated colors, hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6 moist, 5 through 8 dry and chroma of 2 through 6. It is stratified fine sand through silt loam with thin discontinuous lenses of gravel in some pedons. It is massive and compact but has layers that are single grained and others that are weakly cemented.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this family. The Bandon, Blacklock and Depoe series are in other families. Bandon soils are well drained and contain less than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Blacklock and Depoe soils are poorly drained and are less than 20 inches deep to the cemented Bsm horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nelscott soils are on incised marine terraces at elevations of 50 to 300 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 50 percent. These soils formed in mixed eolian silty material overlying marine sediments. The climate is characterized by cool, wet winters and cool, moist summers with fog. The mean annual precipitation is 60 to 90 inches. The mean annual temperature is 49 to 53 degrees F., mean July temperature is about 53 degrees F., mean January temperature is about 49 degrees F. The frost-free period is 160 to 300 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the similar Bandon and Depoe soils and the Bullards, Fendall, Ferrelo and Lint soils. The Bullards soils are coarse-loamy and lack and ortstein layer. The Fendall, Ferrelo and Lint soils lack a spodic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; moderate permeability above the cemented layer, slow permeability through the cemented horizon and moderately rapid permeability below. A perched high water table fluctuates between 2.0 and 3.5 feet below the surface from November to March.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for timber production, pasture, urban development, cultivated crops (mainly cranberries), watershed, recreation and wildlife habitat. The natural vegetation is Sitka spruce, western hemlock, Douglas fir, shore pine, western redcedar, red alder, cascara, Pacific rhododendron, salal, evergreen and red huckleberry, salmonberry, and western swordfern.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Pleistocene marine terraces along the Oregon coast; MLRA 1. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County, Oregon, 1990.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features of this pedon include:
Umbric epipedon - from 1 to 16 inches (A and AB horizon).
Cambic horizon - from 16 to 30 inches (Bw horizon).
Albic horizon - from 30 to 37 inches (2E horizon).
Spodic horizon - from 37 to 49 inches (2Bsm horizon).
Ortstein horizon - from 37 to 49 inches (2Bsm horizon).
All diagnostic horizons and features are measured from the top of the first mineral horizon.
Series classification revised 08/03 from fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, isotic over mixed, isomesic, ortstein Typic Haplorthods to fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, isotic over mixed, isomesic, ortstein Typic Durorthods based on presence of 2Bsm horizon.