LOCATION RUCKLES OR+ID
Established Series
Rev. JAS/ED/RWL
11/2010
RUCKLES SERIES
The Ruckles series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in loess and colluvium from basalt and tuff. Ruckles soils are on hills and canyon side slopes. Slopes are 0 to 80 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches, and the mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, mesic Aridic Lithic Argixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Ruckles very stony clay loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 1 inch; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very stony clay loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak thin platy and weak fine granular structure soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; 10 percent cobbles and 30 percent stones many very fine and fine roots; few fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.9); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
A2--1 to 5 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very stony clay loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; many very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 15 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles and 25 percent stones; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt1--5 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very stony clay, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine to medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; continuous prominent clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 10 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles and 30 percent stones; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary.
Bt2--8 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very stony clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium subangular; extremely hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; few very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; continuous prominent clay films on faces of peds and in pores; 10 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles and 35 percent stones; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 6 to 14 inches)
C--11 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) extremely stony sandy clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; lime is present on the bottom surface of the rock fragments; 35 percent cobbles and 45 percent stones; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt irregular boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
R--16 inches; basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Baker County, Oregon; 1 mile east of Keating store turn-off on the Richland highway; 300 feet north of the southeast corner of sec. 35, T. 8 S., R. 41 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 54 degrees F. The soils are dry in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches for at least half the time (cumulative) during the period the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F, and dry between depths of 4 and 12 inches for more than 90 consecutive days following the summer solstice. Depth to bedrock is 10 to 20 inches. The particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 60 percent clay with an average of 50 percent or more. When present, carbonates generally are only thin coatings on the bottom of cobbles and stones in the C horizon. The solum is neutral or slightly alkaline. Organic matter is 1 to 3 percent in the A and upper part of the Bt horizons.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is typically loam or clay loam but ranges to silt loam and is typically very stony, but ranges from very gravelly to extremely stony.
The Bt horizon has value of 2 to 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It is typically clay but ranges to clay loam in the upper part of the Bt horizon in some pedons. It averages 50 to 60 percent clay and 45 to 85 percent rock fragments.
Some pedons over welded tuff have a thin 1 to 3 inch layer of soft weathered bedrock above the lithic contact.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Camaspatch,
Flatron,
Gwinly,
Laufer,
Longcreek,
Loomer,
Lorella,
Pioche,
Radec,
Vantage and
Waterbury series. Camaspatch, Flatron, Gwinly, Laufer, Lorella, Radec and Waterbury soils have a xeric moisture regime. Longcreek, Laufer, Loomer, and Pioche soils average less than 50 percent clay as a maximum in the particle-size control section. Vantage soils are similar and review is needed.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ruckles soils are on hill and canyon side slopes and have slopes of 0 to 80 percent. Elevations range from 1,200 to 3,800 feet in Oregon and up to 5,500 feet in Idaho. These soils formed in colluvium from basalt and tuff. Local accumulations of loess and volcanic ash are on the surface. The climate is semiarid with warm dry summers and cold moist winters. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 9 to 14 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 52 degrees F. The mean winter temperature ranges from 33 to 35 degrees F, and the mean summer temperature ranges from 62 to 64 degrees F. The frost-free period ranges from 90 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Bakeoven,
Encina,
Lookout and
Simas soils Bakeoven soils are less than 10 inches to bedrock and are loamy-skeletal. Encina soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section and are deeper than 60 inches. Lookout soils have an ochric epipedon and have a duripan. Simas soils are over 60 inches deep to bedrock and have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing. Native vegetation dominantly is bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue on north slopes, Sandberg bluegrass and Wyoming big sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern central Oregon and southern Idaho; MLRA 10. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Baker County, Oregon, 1942.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches.
Argillic horizon - the zone from 5 to 11 inches.
Aridic soil moisture regime.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.