LOCATION ALFLACK                 WY

Established Series
Rev. AMH/LKM/KLS
03/2022

ALFLACK SERIES

The Alflack series consists of well drained soils which are moderately deep to noncalcareous, fractured sandstone. They formed in sandstone residuum on mountain hillsides. Slopes range from 4 to 25 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 250 cm, and the mean annual air temperature is about 1 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed Typic Cryorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Alflack loamy fine sand--woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oi--0 to 3 cm; slightly decomposed pine needles and other forest litter.

A--3 to 8 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loamy fine sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine, medium, and coarse roots; moderately acid (pH 6.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 13 cm thick)

C--8 to 59 cm; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) very channery loamy fine sand, yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common medium and fine roots; 35 percent sandstone channers, 10 percent sandstone flagstones; slightly acid (pH 6.2). (43 to 94 cm thick)

R--59 cm; fractured, noncalcareous sandstone which can be broken and removed with a spade; fragments do not slake.

TYPE LOCATION: Natrona County, Wyoming; on the top of Casper Mountain; about 150 meters east and 120 meters north of the SW corner of sec. 14, T. 32 N., R. 79 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--0 to 3 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--6 to 8 degrees C
Depth to fractured sandstone bedrock--50 to 100 cm
Reaction--pH 5.6 to 7.3
Rock fragments--mainly sandstone channers and flagstones

A horizon
Value--5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma--2 or 3
Rock fragment content--5 to 30 percent

C horizon
Value--6 through 8 dry, 4 through 7 moist
Chroma--2 through 6
Texture--loamy fine sand or loamy sand
Rock fragment content--40 to 60 percent

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chena, Comad, Gryalock, Mirror Lake, Obscurity, Ovando, Polepatch, Stecum, and Studebaker series. All of these soils, except Stecum, are deep. Also, Comad soils have an E and Bt horizons; Obscurity and Studebaker soils contain 15 to 50 percent volcanic ash; and Ovando soils have lamellae. Stecum soils formed in material weathered from granite and gneiss and contain over 50 percent coarse sand.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform--mountain hillsides
Elevation--2,195 to 2,550 meters
Slope--4 to 25 percent
Parent material--residuum derived dominantly from noncalcareous sandstone
Mean annual precipitation--635 to 890 mm
Mean annual air temperature--0 to 2 degrees C
Frost-free period--less than 90 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is slow or medium; rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for wood products, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Native vegetation is mainly lodgepole pine with a sparse understory of grasses and shrubs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Alflack soils are of small extent in the mountains of Central Wyoming; MLRAs 48A, 49

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Natrona County, Wyoming; 1985.

REMARKS: Converted to metric and O horizons were updated to start at zero. 2/2022

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.