LOCATION PRICE                   OR

Established Series
Rev. CK/ DRJ/RWL
06/2011

PRICE SERIES

The Price series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in clayey colluvium derived from basalt. Price soils occur on back slopes of hills and mountains. Slopes are 30 to 90 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 60 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Humic Haploxerepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Price silty clay loam, woodland, on a 65 percent southeast-facing slope at an elevation, of 960 feet. When described on April 23, 1998 the soil profile was moist throughout. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Oi--0 to 1 inches; slightly decomposed needles, leaves, twigs, and woody materials.

A--1 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) silty clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) dry, moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine and few medium roots; many fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.6); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches.)

BA--8 to 17 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine, and few medium and coarse roots; many fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 11 inches thick)

Bw1--17 to 31 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) dry; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine, and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel and 3 percent cobbles; strongly acid (pH 5.4); gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

Bw2--31 to 54 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm very sticky and very plastic; few medium and coarse roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel and 3 percent cobbles; strongly acid (pH 5.2); gradual wavy boundary. (20 to 30 inches thick)

BC--54 to 86 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) gravelly silty clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) dry; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few coarse roots; common very fine tubular ores; 20 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; common black manganese stains on ped faces and coating rock fragments; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (20 to 40 inches thick)

2R--86 inches; partially weathered, highly fractured basalt with tongues of dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) dry soil material from above horizon in fractures; many black manganese stains and yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay films on rock fragments.

TYPE LOCATION: Benton County, Oregon; 1 mile west of Dimple Hill, in Oregon State University McDonald; located about 1,400 feet south and 2,310 feet west of the northeast corner of section 18, T.11S., R.5W., Willamette Meridian (Latitude 44 degrees, 37 minutes, 03 seconds N.; Longitude 123 degrees, 20 minutes, 27 seconds W.); Corvallis, Oregon USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; NAD 27.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually moist but are dry between depths of 4 and 12 inches for 45 to 60 consecutive days following the summer solstice. The mean annual soil temperature is 51 to 55 degrees F. The solum is 40 to 60 inches thick. Depth to fractured bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Some pedons have up to 5 percent stones on the soil surface. Reaction is strongly acid or moderately acid.

The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 2 or 3 moist, 3 or 4 dry and chroma of 2 to 4 moist and 3 or 4 dry. Texture is silty clay loam with 27 to 35 percent clay. It has 5 to 15 percent gravel and 0 to 10 percent cobbles and stones.

The Bw horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 4 or 5 dry and chroma of 4 to 6 moist and dry. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay with 35 to 50 percent clay. It has 10 to 25 percent gravel and 0 to 20 percent cobbles.

The BC horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR, value of 4 or 5 moist, 5 or 6 dry and chroma of 4 to 6 moist and dry. Texture is silty clay loam, silty clay or clay with 35 to 50 percent clay. It has 10 to 25 percent gravel and 5 to 20 percent cobbles. Below 60 inches the content of rock fragments may range from 40 to 75 percent. In some pedons there are buried argillic horizons above the bedrock and below the cambic horizons.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Price soils occur on summit (interfluve component), footslope (head slope or side slope components), or toeslope positions (base slope component) on steep to very steep side slopes of hills and mountains along the margins of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Slopes are 30 to 90 percent. Elevation is 240 to 2,200 feet. The soils formed in clayey basaltic colluvium derived dominantly from materials weathered from the Siletz River Volcanics formation. The climate is characterized by warm, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 50 to 70 inches. The mean annual temperature is 48 to 54 degrees F. The January temperature is 38 to 40 F. and the mean July temperature is 64 to 67 degrees F. The frost-free period is 160 to 210 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gelderman, Jory, MacDunn, Nekia, Ritner, Witzel, and Yamhill soils. Gelderman, Jory, Nekia and Yamhill soils occur on low hills along the margins of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. MacDunn, Ritner and Witzel soils occur on steep to very steep side slopes of hills and mountains. Gelderman, Jory and Nekia soil shave argillic horizons. Yamhill soils have mollic epipedons and are 20 to 40 inches deep to a lithic contact. MacDunn soils are fine textured, have more than 35 percent total rock fragments in the particle-size control section and are 40 to 60 inches deep to a paralithic contact. Ritner soils are fine textured, have more than 35 percent total rock fragments in the particle-size control section and are 20 to 40 inches deep to a lithic contact. Witzel soils are shallower than 20 inches to a lithic contact and have more than 35 percent total rock fragments in the particle-size control section.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, hay and pasture, limited homesite development, wildlife habitat, and watersheds. The native vegetation is Douglas-fir, grand fir, bigleaf maple, Oregon white oak, western brackenfern, western swordfern, common snowberry, western hazel, creambush oceanspray, Pacific poison oak, and baldhip rose.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Hills and mountains along the margins of the Willamette Valley, Oregon; MLRA 2. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Benton County (Benton Area), Oregon, 1970.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:

Ochric epipedon - from 1 to 17 inches (A, BA horizons). Dark colors in the modal A horizon do not meet umbric epipedon criteria for thickness.
Humic subgroup - color requirements are meet from 1 to 54 inches
Cambic horizon - from a depth of 17 to 54 inches (Bw1, Bw2 horizons).
Particle-size control section from 1 to 41 inches (part of the BA, all of the Bw1, and part of the Bw2 horizons).

All depths to diagnostic features in the range of characteristics are measured from the top of the first mineral horizon.

Typical pedon relocated based on field observations and documentation from several counties in the Willamette Valley update area. The modal concept reflects a soil that is very deep, has red hues, is fine textured, has less than 35 percent total rock fragments in the particle-size control section, does not have an argillic horizon and occurs dominantly on the Siletz River Volcanics geologic formation. Price soils occur on the Looney geomorphic surface. Lab data from the Price type location and of similar soils indicate a superactive CEC class and more than 60 percent base saturation (NH4OAc). This resulted in a change in classification to fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Humic Haploxerepts.

ADDITIONAL DATA; Characterization data available for National Soil Survey Lab soil survey sample numbers S00OR-003-013 and S55OR-003-001.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.