LOCATION BEARDSLEY AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Vertic Argidurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Beardsley loam-rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted)
A--0 to 3 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) loam, dark brown (7.5YR) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine roots; common fine vesicular and few fine tubular pores; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Bt--3 to 10 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine and fine roots; few thin patchy clay films; few fine tubular and few very fine interstitial pores; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)
Btk--10 to 36 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) clay; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm sticky and very plastic; common fine roots in upper part and common very fine roots in lower part; few thin clay films on faces of peds; many pressure faces on faces of peds; few very fine soft calcium carbonate masses; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (18 to 28 inches thick)
2Bkqm--36 to 42 inches; pinkish white (5YR 8/2) and pinkish gray (5YR 7/2) indurated silica-calcium carbonate cemented duripan with thin laminar layer on upper surface; extremely hard, violently effervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Maricopa County, Arizona; 1000 feet west and 660 feet south of the northeast corner of section 8, T. 4 N., R. 1 E. Lat. 33 degrees 42 minutes 31 seconds N., and long. 112 degrees, 16 minutes 32 seconds W., NAD 83.
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 soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature - 72 to 78 degrees F.
Solum thickness and depth to duripan - 20 to 40 inches
Rock fragments - 0 to 35 percent
Organic matter content - less than 1 percent
Reaction (pH) - slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4, 5, or 6 dry, 3, 4, or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam, sandy loam
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent gravel and cobble
Bt horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4, 5, or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3, 4, or 6, dry and moist
Texture: clay loam, clay, sandy clay, sandy clay loam (35 to 60 percent clay)
2Bkqm horizon
Value: 5, 6, 7, or 8, dry and moist
Chroma: 2, 3, or 4 dry and moist
Thickness: 6 to 24 inches (several thin 1/2 to 3 inches indurated layers in some pedons)
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Beardsley soils are on fan terraces and have slopes of 0 to 10 percent. They formed in mixed alluvium dominated by volcanic rock. Elevation ranges from 1000 to 2200 feet. The climate is hot, arid continental. Mean annual air temperature is 70 to 74 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is 2 to 10 inches, occurring as thunderstorms in July, August and September, and as gentle rains in December and January. Frost-free period is 240 to 325 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Carefree, Cipriano, Mohall, Tremant and Suncity soils. Carefree soils are deep. Cipriano soils are shallow and lack an argillic horizon. Mohall and Tremant soils are fine-loamy. Suncity soils are shallow and loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to medium runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for livestock grazing. Native vegetation is big galleta, bush muhly, plains bristlegrass, Arizona cottontop, mesquite, littleleaf paloverde, triangleleaf bursage, creosotebush, threeawn, prickly-pear, saguaro and barrel cactus, cholla and Mormon-tea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and southern Arizona. The Beardsley soil is not extensive. Total extent is about 4,900 acres. MLRA is 40.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Maricopa County, Arizona, (Central Part), 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 3 to 36 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons)
Duripan- the zone from 36 to 42 inches (2Bkqm horizon)
Vertic Subgroup: A linear extensibility of 6.0 cm or more between the soil surface and the top of the duripan
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL S76AZ-013-001 S78AZ-013-003
Revised for the correlation of AZ661, 11/08, PDC