LOCATION BELCHER                 NV

Established Series
Rev. GAR/WED/JVC/JBF
06/2016

BELCHER SERIES

The Belcher series consists of very shallow and shallow to a duripan, well drained soils that formed in alluvium and lacustrine deposits derived from mixed rocks. Belcher soils are on alluvial flats, lake terraces, fan remnants, and fan skirts. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 125 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Cambidic Haplodurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Belcher gravelly sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 3 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grained; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic;; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 25 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

AC--3 to 18 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thin and very thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine vesicular and common fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 30 cm thick)

2Bqkm--18 to 38 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) and white (10YR 8/1) cemented material, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; strong medium and very thin platy structure; hard and extremely hard, friable and extremely firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very thin continuous very pale brown (10YR 8/3) and 7/4) strongly cemented silica laminae, many very fine roots matted on silica laminae; many very fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); diffuse smooth boundary. (13 to 38 cm thick)

2Cr--38 to 152 cm; semiconsolidated lacustrine deposits interbedded with thin lenses of loose sand; very hard and very firm, but can be dug with a tile spade.

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; about 600 feet west of Nevada State route 89 and west of road to sand dunes; approximately 2,100 feet east and 4,200 feet north of southwest corner of section 9, T. 4 N.; R. 41 E.; USGS Millers 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 13 minutes 20 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 22 minutes 50 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.2222222 latitude, -117.3808333 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and intermittently moist in some part for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July to September due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to duripan: 25 to 46 cm.
Depth to bedrock: 25 to 50 cm to a paralithic contact.
Effervescence: Slightly effervescent through violently effervescent.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 5 to 16 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages less than 15 percent.

A horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline through strongly alkaline.

AC horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Clay content: 8 to 18 percent.
Texture: Fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
Structure: Platy or massive.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline through very strongly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adelaide, Blackhawk, Timper, and Truhoy series.

Adelaide and Blackhawk soils are noncalcareous above the duripan. Timper soils have gravelly and very gravelly sandy textures below a depth of 50 cm. Truhoy soils do not have paralithic contacts below the duripan.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Belcher soils are on alluvial flats, lake terraces, fan remnants, and fan skirts. They formed in alluvium and lacustrine deposits derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. Elevations range from 1,470 to 1,680 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 150 mm, the mean annual temperature is 10 to 14 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 130 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Stumble and Yomba soils. Stumble soils are sandy, Yomba soils are sandy-skeletal, and neither soil has a duripan.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Belcher soils are used for livestock grazing. The vegetation is principally shadscale, black greasewood, littleleaf horsebrush, Indian ricegrass, kochia, and dalea.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 9,000 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 29.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (Big Smoky Valley Area), Nevada, 1972.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A and AC horizons).
Strongly cemented duripan - The zone from 18 to 38 cm (2Bqkm horizon).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 38 cm to underlying semiconsolidated bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A and AC horizons)

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.