LOCATION TASSEL NE+MT SD WYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Ustic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Tassel fine sandy loam with a slope of 15 percent in rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated)
A--0 to 8 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak medium granular structure; soft, very friable; 3 percent sandstone gravel by volume; strong effervescence; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 9 inches thick)
C--8 to 15 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) fine sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; 10 percent sandstone gravel and cobbles by volume; violent effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 11 inches)
Cr--15 to 80 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) partially consolidated soft sandstone, violent effervescence.
TYPE LOCATION: Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska; about 4 miles south and 9 miles west of Gering; 1,850 feet west and 2,110 feet north of the southeast corner, sec. 29, T. 21 N., R. 56 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to carbonates: 0 to 3 inches
Particle-size control section: clay content ranges from 5 to 12 percent, but averages 10 percent or less; sand content that ranges from 52 to 75 percent
Depth to the Cr horizon: typically 10 to 20 inches, but ranges from 6 to 20
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline throughout the profile.
A horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 7 and 3 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: typically fine sandy loam, but ranges to include very fine sandy loam, loamy very fine sand, sandy loam, loamy sand or loamy fine sand
Notes: Where the A horizon has mollic colors, it lacks sufficient thickness to qualify for a mollic epipedon. Some pedons have an AC horizon that is intermediate in color and texture between the A and C horizon.
C horizon:
Hue: 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y
Value: 5 to 8 and 4 to 7 moist
Chroma of 2 or 3
Texture: typically fine sandy loam, but the range includes very fine sandy loam with less than 12 percent clay, sandy loam, loamy very fine sand and loamy fine sand
COMPETING SERIES:
Canyon: typically range from 12 to 27 percent clay and 20 to 52 percent sand in the particle size control section
Epping: contain more silt in the control section and formed in residuum from siltstone
Eslendo: contain more than 18 percent clay in the control section.
Gerst: contain more than 15 percent rock fragments throughout the particle-size control section
Picante: contain more than 18 percent clay in the control section (it is assumed the soil is competing pending an update of the classification)
Sandoval: have more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section and are typically loam and very fine sandy loam (it is assumed the soil is competing pending an update of the classification)
Shingle: contain more than 18 percent clay in the control section and formed in residuum from shale with interbedded lenses of sandstone
Redarrow: have hue redder than 10YR and contain more clay in the particle-size control section
Taluce: have more than 10 percent clay in the particle-size control section and are typically loam and very fine sandy loam
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: uplands
Slopes: 0 to 70 percent
Parent material: loamy, calcareous, weathered sandstone residuum
Mean annual air temperature: 46 to 52 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 18 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Ashollow: are very deep, on similar landscapes
Busher: have a paralithic contact at 40 to 60 inches, on similar landscapes
Creighton: have a mollic epipedon, are very deep, on similar landscapes
Jayem: are very deep, on similar landscapes
Rosebud: have a mollic epipedon, have soft sandstone at a depth of 20 to 40 inches, on similar landscapes
Trelona: have a mollic epipedon, on similar landscapes
Valentine: very deep, sandy, generally lower on the landscape
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage: well
Runoff: slow to rapid depending on slope
Permeability: moderately rapid
USE AND VEGETATION: Tassel soils are used principally for rangeland. Native vegetation is mainly blue grama, needleandthread, threadleaf sedge, little bluestem, and yucca.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Tassel soils are moderately extensive in western Nebraska, western South Dakota, eastern Colorado, and eastern Wyoming.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 8 inches (A horizon). This soil overlaps the ustic-aridic and aridic-ustic moisture regimes. Further study is needed to determine its proper classification as Ustic Torriorthents or Aridic Ustorthents.