LOCATION BEIRMAN ORTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Very-fine, smectitic, mesic Chromic Haploxererts
TYPICAL PEDON: Beirman clay, range. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 5 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong fine granular structure; hard, firm, very sticky, very plastic; many very fine roots; many fine pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
AC1--5 to 17 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong fine angular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky, very plastic; many very fine roots concentrated between vertical faces of peds and few very fine roots in peds; few very fine pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)
AC2--17 to 26 inches; light gray (5Y 7/2) clay, with streaks of brownish yellow (10YR 6/8), light olive gray (5Y 6/2) with streaks of yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) moist; strong medium angular wedge shaped and blocky peds with irregular vertical fractures; extremely hard, very firm, very sticky, very plastic; many very fine roots in vertical fractures, very few roots in peds; few very fine pores; many intersecting slickensides on 30 to 40 degrees F. angles; few splotches of segregated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); gradual wavy boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
C1--26 to 32 inches; pale yellow (5Y 7/3) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) clay with light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) coatings, olive (5Y 5/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) with coatings of light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) moist; strong coarse angular wedge shaped and blocky peds with smooth surfaces or pressure faces; extremely hard, very firm, very sticky, very plastic; few roots; few very fine pores; eyes and small seams of gypsum; slightly effervescent with HCL: moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
C2--32 to 60 inches; white (5Y 8/2) and pale yellow (5Y 8/3) clay, pale yellow (5Y 8/4) moist; moderate coarse angular wedge shaped and blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky, very plastic; very few large roots; very few fine pores; eyes and small seams of gypsum; splotches of segregated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Malheur County, Oregon; SE face of cut bank in dry wash, NE1/4 SE1/4 section 29, T. 15 S., R. 45 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Beirman soils have cracks that open and close once a year and remain open for 90 consecutive days or more. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 54 degrees F. The texture is clay throughout with a weighted average of 60 to 70 percent clay within the texture control section. Depth to weathered sediments is 40 to over 60 inches. Depth to secondary lime ranges from 10 to 20 inches.
The A horizon has chromas of 2, 3 or 4 moist and dry.
The AC1 horizon has values of 6 or 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist, and chromas of 2 to 4 dry and moist.
The AC2 horizon has values of 7 or 8 dry, 6 or 7 moist, and chromas of 2 or 3 dry and moist. The AC2 horizon has churned material as streaks and surfaces of peds of 10YR hue, values of 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist and chromas of 6 or 8 moist and dry.
The C horizons have 5Y to 10YR hues, values of 5 to 8 dry and moist, and chromas of 2 to 6 moist and dry.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ager and Moroni series. Both these soils have less than 60 percent clay in the texture control section. Ager soils are 2 to 3 feet to a lithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Beirman soils are on rolling to steep dissected uplands with irregular topography at elevations of 2,100 to 3,500 feet. These soils formed in old whitish or yellowish clayey sediments. The climate is semiarid with cool winters and hot dry summers with a mean summer temperature of 62 to 70 degrees F., mean winter temperature of 28 to 32 degrees F., and a mean annual temperature of 49 to 52 degrees F. Average annual precipitation is 9 to 11 inches. The average frost-free (32 degrees F.) period is 120 to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Virtue, Nyssa and unnamed soils. Virtue soils have an argillic horizon and a duripan. Nyssa soils have less than 18 percent clay throughout and a duripan. The unnamed soils are formed in alluvium from the clayey sediments.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate to rapid runoff; very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife and range. Native vegetation consists of Sandberg bluegrass, cheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, big sagebrush, and annual forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Malheur County, Oregon. The series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES PROPOSED: Malheur County, Oregon, 1971. Source of name is Beirman Springs.
REMARKS: These soils would have been classified as Grumusols.
NSTH 17, RECLASSIFICATION ONLY, 3/95