LOCATION AQUARIUS AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, calcareous, thermic Vertic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Aquarius very cobbly silt loam-rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) very cobbly silt loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine roots; many fine tubular pores; 50 percent cobble; noneffervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A2--2 to 8 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) silty clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent cobble; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
C1--8 to 24 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) cobbly silty clay, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; strong medium prismatic structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; many pressure faces; 15 percent cobble and 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
C2--24 to 42 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; common fine roots; common fine tubular pores; many pressure faces; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (12 to 24 inches thick)
2Btkb1--42 to 50 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) silty clay, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; many pressure faces; common black stains and common distinct clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent gravel; few medium calcium carbonate accumulations; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
2Btkb2--50 to 60 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/4) gravelly silty clay loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; 20 percent gravel; common coarse soft calcium carbonate accumulations; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4).
TYPE LOCATION: Mohave County, Arizona; about 21 miles southeast of Wikieup; latitude of 34 degrees, 29 minutes, 56 seconds north and a longitude of 113 degrees, 21 minutes, 55 seconds west; 1,700 feet south and 2,200 feet east of the northwest corner of section 01, T. 13 N., R. 11 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September and December-February. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic moisture regime.
Rock Fragments: 35 to 60 percent cobble on the surface; 0 to 20 percent cobble and gravel in the control section.
Soil Temperature: 61 to 66 degrees F.
Cracks: More than 1 cm wide to a depth of 20 inches or more that are open for more than 240 days in most years
Organic Matter: Less than 1 percent in the surface
A Horizon
Value: 4, 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
C Horizon
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 3 through 6 moist
Chroma: 4, 5 or 6, dry or moist
Texture: Clay, silty clay loam
The buried soil is not present in all pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: This is Nahrub (CA) series. Nahrub soils receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Aquarius soils are on plateaus at elevations of 2,400 to 3,000 feet. These soils formed in alluvium and colluvium from volcanic rock. Slopes range from 10 to 25 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 12 inches. The mean annual air temperature is 59 to 64 degrees F. The frost-free period is 200 to 230 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Akela and Cellar soils. Akela and Cellar soils have bedrock at depths less than 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Medium runoff. Slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Aquarius soils are used for grazing. The present vegetation is black grama, sideoats grama, tobosa, big galleta, broom snakeweed, bush muhly, desert globemallow, false mesquite, littleleaf palo verde, range ratany, and shrubby buckwheat.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Arizona. This soil occurs in MLRA 40. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mohave County, Arizona, Southern Part, 2005.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 8 inches (A horizon)
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic horizons
Vertic feature - Soil cracks (observed this profile) inches wide to 42 inches and has a linear extensibility of 6.0 or more between the surface and 100 cm.
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Ninth Edition, 2003.