LOCATION ALDERDALE WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Xeric Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Alderdale extremely cobbly loamy sand-rangeland. (All colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 3 inches, pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely cobbly loamy sand, dark grayish brown, (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky, nonplastic; 50 percent cobbles; 30 percent pebbles; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
C1--3 to 30 inches, pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely cobbly fine sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky, nonplastic; 40 percent cobbles; 40 percent pebbles; 5 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
C2--30 to 35 inches, pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely cobbly loamy sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; violently effervescent; 40 percent cobbles; 45 percent pebbles; 5 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 30 inches thick)
2R--35 inches; fractured basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Franklin County Washington about 3 miles below Ice Harbor Dam about 2,400 feet east and 4,480 feet south of the northwest corner of section 21, T. 9N., R. 31E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 53 to 56 degrees F. These soils are usually dry between 1/2 and 3/4 of the time when the soil temperature is more than 41 degrees F. These soils are moist during the late fall, winter and spring. The particle-size control section is sandy throughout and averages 35 to 85 percent coarse fragments, mostly basalt. Depth, to a lithic contact with basalt is 20 to 40 inches. The organic matter content is assumed to be less than 1 percent.
The A horizon has value of 4 to 6 dry, 2 to 4 moist and chroma of 1 to 3 moist and dry. Reaction is neutral or mildly alkaline.
The C horizon has value of 3 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist, and chroma of 1 to 3 moist and dry. Texture is fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, coarse sand, or sand and is 45 to 90 percent coarse fragments mostly basalt. Reaction is neutral to moderately alkaline.
Some pedons have surface horizons with less than 35 percent rock fragments.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Burbank, Crunkvar, Denio, Doowak, Sheeprock, Skaha, Ulymeyer (T), and Wrango series. All of these Soils are more than 40 inches deep to a lithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Alderdale soils are on benches, terraces and escarpments at elevations of 300 to 950 feet. Slopes are 0 to 65 percent. These soils formed in glacial outwash, and basaltic colluvium and a thin mantle of eolian sand over basalt. The climate is arid, summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and moist. The average annual precipitation is 6 to 9 inches. The average January temperature is about 33 degrees F., the average July temperature is about 76 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F. The frost-free season is 150 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Burbank, Koehler, Quincy, and Quinton, soils. Burbank and Quincy soils are deep. Koehler soils are sandy and have a duripan at 20 to 40 inches. Quinton soils are sandy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained, very slow to medium runoff. Rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most is used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is Needleandthread, Indian ricegrass, Sandberg bluegrass, Thickspike wheatgrass, big Sagebrush, Antelope bitterbrush and Rabbitbrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central Washington. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Washington 1994.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are an ochric epipedon from the surface to 3 inches, a particle-size control section from 10 to 35 inches that is sandy throughout and averages 85 percent rock fragments and a lithic contact at 35 inches. These soils are correlated as Burbank series basalt substratum in the 1971 soil survey of Benton County, Washington. The classification was changed from sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Torriorthents to sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Xeric Torriorthents in 1993. The original type location has been inundated by a reservoir of the Columbia River.