LOCATION BALDER OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Vitrandic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Balder stony ashy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) stony ashy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 5 percent gravel; few stones on surface; neutral (pH 6.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
A2--3 to 9 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) ashy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; neutral (ph 6.6); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--9 to 16 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) ashy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak coarse prismatic and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
2Crk--16 inches; light gray to very pale brown volcanic tuff, lime coatings on the surface; semiconcolidated; can be chipped with spade with difficulty.
TYPE LOCATION: Grant County, Oregon; about 6 miles east and 2 miles north of the town of John Day; 880 feet south of the center of sec. 11, T.13S., R.32E. Latitude 44 degrees, 27 minutes, 07 seconds North; Longitude 118 degrees, 49 minutes, 39 seconds West.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 52 degrees F. The soil are usually moist but dry throughout the moisture control section for 60 to 90 consecutive days during the four-month period following the summer solstice in more than 7 out of 10 years. Thickness of solum and depth to bedrock is 10 to 20 inches. The solum has 18 to 27 percent clay. Rock fragments in the solum range from about 5 to 35 percent. Surface stones range from very few to 3 percent of the surface covered. Free carbonates occur as coatings on the lower side of rock fragments and on the surface of the bedrock in some pedons. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 12 inches thick. The solum has 20 to 30 percent glass and acid oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half the iron is 0.15 to 0.30 percent.
The A horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist and chroma of 2 or 3 dry and moist. It has 0 to 10 percent stones, 0 to 5 percent cobbles and 5 to 20 percent gravel.
The Bw horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It has weak or moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure. It has 0 to 5 percent cobbles and 0 to 10 percent gravel.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Balder soils are on benches and hills at elevations of 2,200 to 5,000 feet. Slopes are 2 to 70 percent. The soils formed in colluvium mixed with ash over volcanic tuff. The climate is subhumid with a mean annual precipitation of 14 to 18 inches. The mean annual temperature is about 46 degrees F., the mean July temperature is about 65 degrees F., and the average January temperature is about 30 degrees F. Frost-free period is 80 to 120 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gwin, Rockly and Prill soils. Gwin and Rockly soils are loamy-skeletal and overlie basalt bedrock. Prill soils have clay Bt horizons and are deeper than 20 inches to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate permability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The principal uses are range and wildlife. Important native plants are bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass and juniper. Widely spaced big sagebrush, rabbitbrush and bitterbrush also occur.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central Oregon, MLRA 10. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grant County, Oregon, 1968.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 9 inches
Cambic horizon - 9 to 16 inches
Vitrandic properties - 0 to 16 inches
ADDITIONAL DATA: S97OR-023-009.