LOCATION ALVEY UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Calciargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Alvey very fine sandy loam, on rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered by 2 percent gravel.
A--0 to 2 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
AB--2 to 11 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine, fine, and medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
Btk1--11 to 35 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; carbonates segregated in soft masses; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (15 to 25 inches thick)
Btk2--35 to 50 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common distinct clay films on faces of peds; violently effervescent; carbonates segregated in hard masses and disseminated throughout; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (12 to 30 inches thick)
C--50 to 60 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; massive; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Garfield County, Utah; about 5 miles south of the town of Escalante along the Smokey Mountain Road, in the center of Little Valley; Death Ridge USGS quad; lat. 37 degrees 38 minutes 51.30 seconds N. and long. 111 degrees 38 minutes 26.92 seconds W., NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soils are dry in parts of the moisture control section for 75 to 90 days during the winter and dry in all parts of the moisture control section greater than 50 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inch depth is more than 41 degrees F. Ustic aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature regime - cool mesic
Mean annual soil temperature - 47 to 54 degrees F
Depth to diagnostic features: 11 to 50 inches to argillic horizon, 12 to 39 inches to calcic horizon
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 6 to 30 inches
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent
Particle size control section
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
A horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 6
Rock fragments: 0 to 25 percent gravel
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline
AB horizon (when present):
Hue: 10YR to 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: loam, sandy loam and sandy clay loam
Btk horizons:
Hue: 10YR to 2.5Y
Value: 5 to 8 dry, 4 to 8 moist
Chroma: 2 to 6
Texture: sandy clay loam, clay loam, or loam
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 30 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Barx (UT),
Cerrillos (NM),
Clovis (NM),
Fernando (NM),
Flaco (NM),
Horchata (NM),
Los Alamos (NM),
Maysdorf (WY),
Millett (AZ),
Palabria (NM),
Progresso (CO),
Sanostee (NM),
Scholle (NM),
Selpats (WY),
Solirec (UT),
Spenlo (UT),
Threetop (WY),
Tuweep (AZ) and
Wineg (AZ) series.
Barx, Cerrillos and Spenlo soils have 2.5YR to 7.5YR hue.
Clovis soils receive more than half of it annual precipitation between the months of July and October.
Fernando soils contain 50 to 80 percent silt in the solum and mapped in MLRA 51.
Maysdorf soils contain less than 15 percent carbonates in the calcic horizon.
Horchata soils are moderately deep to a lithic contact.
Los Alamos soils have 5 to 15 percent pumice fragments and ash in the particle size control section, and Bt horizon thickness range from 6 to 14 inches.
Millett soils contain 25 to 75 percent gravel and cobbles in the lower part of the solum.
Flaco, Progresso, Sanostee, and Threetop soils are moderately deep over bedrock. Selpats soils have skeletal lithologic discontinuity at depths ranging from 15 to 39 inches.
Palabria series are deep soils with sandstone bedrock between 40 to 60 inches.
Scholle soils contain 15 to 35 percent gravel in the control section.
Solirec soils do not have 2.5Y hue and receive maximum precipitation in spring and fall.
Threetop soils have a lithic contact at 20 to 40 inches.
Tuweep soils are formed in alluvium from pyroclastics and basalt.
Wineg soils have a MAST of 56 degrees F, and have mixed gravelly alluvium or lacustrine parent material.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: alluvium and reworked eolian material derived from Cretaceous sandstone and shale
Landform: alluvial flats, and fan remnants
Slopes: 1 to 15 percent
Elevation: 5,600 to 6,500 feet
Mean annual temperature: 45 to 52 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 9 to 12 inches
Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year with August being slightly wetter and June being slightly dryer.
Frost-free period: 120 to 160 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Atrac soils. Atrac soils are 40 to 60 inches deep and do not have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, very low runoff, slow or moderately slow permeability
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for rangeland. Potential natural plant community is Wyoming big sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, galleta, bottlebrush squirreltail, and winterfat. This soil has been correlated to the Semidesert Loam (Wyoming Big Sagebrush) 035XY209UT ecological site at the type location in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-Central Utah. LRR D, MLRA 35. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Garfield County, Utah, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument soil survey area, 2004.
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 11 inches. (A and AB horizons)
Argillic horizon: The zone from 11 to 50 inches. (Btk1 and Btk2 horizons)
Calcic horizon: The zone from 35 to 50 inches. (Btk2 horizon)
Particle size control section: The zone from 11 to 31 inches. (Btk1 and part of the Btk2 horizon)
Taxonomic Version: Ninth Edition, 2003.