LOCATION AGATE OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Durixerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Agate loam, on a 1 percent slope in rangeland at 1,250 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 6 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky and strong very fine granular structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
BA--6 to 12 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; many very fine and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--12 to 20 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) clay loam, brown
(7.5YR 4/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; many fine and very fine roots; 10 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bw2--20 to 25 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) clay loam, brown
(7.5YR 4/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; 10 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary.
2Bqm--25 to 30 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) and red (2.5YR 4/6) duripan, yellowish red (5YR 5/6) and reddish yellow (5YR 6/6) dry; massive; indurated; nearly continuous cemented silica laminae on surface and on vertical surfaces; common fine black stains; 40 percent gravel; 20 percent cobbles; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
2C1--30 to 49 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) extremely
gravelly coarse sandy loam, very pale brown (10YR 7/4) and yellow (10YR 7/6) dry; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; discontinuous weakly cemented laminae on rock fragments; 55 percent gravel, 25 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.6); gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)
2C2--49 to 62 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) extremely
gravelly coarse sandy loam, pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) dry; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 55 percent gravel, 25 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Jackson County, Oregon; 500 feet west and 200 feet south of intersection of Table Rock Road and Kirtland Road, approximately 1,150 feet east and 400 feet north of the southwest corner of sec. 13, T. 36 S., R. 2 W., Willamette Meridian.
RANGE OF CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the duripan is 20 to 30 inches. Depth to bedrock is 60 inches or more. The mean annual soil temperature is 54 to 56 degrees F. These soils are usually moist, but are dry between depths of 4 to 12 inches for 80 to 110 consecutive days within the four months following the summer solstice. The particle-size control section averages 10 to 35 percent rock fragment of which 10 to 25 percent are gravel and 0 to 10 percent are cobbles. The soil material above the duripan is moderately or slightly acid.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist and 4 or 5 dry, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist and 4 through 6 dry and chroma of 4 moist and dry. It is clay loam, gravelly loam, or loam with 18 to 35 percent clay and 10 to 35 percent rock fragments.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 5YR, value of 4 through 6 moist and 6 or 7 dry and chroma of 4 or 5 moist and 4 through 6 dry. It is coarse sandy loam and loamy sand with 40 to 60 percent gravel and 10 to 30 percent cobbles. Stratified layers of loam and silt loam may occur within these horizons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Agate series consists of moderately deep to a duripan, well drained soils in the mound area of patterned ground on fan terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. These soils formed in stratified old alluvium of mixed lithologies. Elevation is 1,100 to 1,850 feet. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 to 30 inches. The mean annual temperature is 52 to 54 degrees F. The frost-free period is 150 to 180 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Provig and Winlo soils. Provig soils are clayey-skeletal, have a mollic epipedon and lack a duripan. Winlo soils are clayey-skeletal, have a duripan at depths of less than 20 inches and are the intermound soil on the pattern ground landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for grazing, irrigated pasture, and building sites. Native vegetation consists of annual grasses, Lemmon needlegrass, wedgeleaf ceanothus, and Oregon white oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Rogue and Bear Creek Valleys in Jackson County, Oregon. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jackson County, Oregon, l911.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Oregon Soil Characterization Laboratory, OSU, S71-Oreg-15-5-(1-6), 2/14/73.