LOCATION BERTAG                  UT

Established Series
Rev. LBC/JAC/KLS
11/2022

BERTAG SERIES

The Bertag series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in material weathered from tuffaceous sandstone and tuffaceous limestone. They are on foothill slopes. The mean annual precipitation is about 530 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 6 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Pachic Ultic Argixerolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Bertag silt loam, rangeland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

Oi--0 to 5 cm; matted decaying leaves and twigs.

A1--5 to 33 cm; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.4); gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 33 cm thick)

A2--33 to 66 cm, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) dry; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure that parts to weak fine granular; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium and few coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 41 cm thick)

Bt1--66 to 94 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few fine medium and coarse roots; many very fine and fine pores; common thin clay films; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual irregular boundary.

Bt2--94 to 137 cm; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) heavy silty clay loam, light grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and very plastic; few fine medium and coarse roots; many very fine and fine pores; many thin clay films; moderately acid (pH 5.8); diffuse irregular boundary. (Combined thickness of Bt1 and Bt2 horizons - 30 to 80 cm)

Bt3--137 to 157 cm; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) heavy silt clay loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and very plastic; few fine and medium roots; common fine pores; common thin clay films; moderately acid (pH 6.0).

TYPE LOCATION: Weber County, Utah; about 3 km south and 1610 meters west of Huntsville; about 460 meters west and 180 meters north of the NE corner, sec. 26, T.6N., R.1E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 50 cm--6 degrees to 8 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--15 degrees to 19 degrees C
Soils are usually moist, but are dry for 50 to 85 consecutive days during the summer
Thickness of mollic epipedon--50 to 100 cm, extending into the Bt horizons in most pedons
Combined thickness of A and Bt horizons--127 to 168 cm or more
Thickness of Bt horizons--60 to 120 cm or more
Base saturation--less than 75 percent in some or all parts of the upper 75 cm
Some pedons have a C horizon at depths below 125 cm

A horizon(s)
Value--2 through 4 dry and 2 or 3 moist
Chroma--2 or 3 dry and 1 or 2 moist
Texture--silt loam to loam or cobbly loam
Thickness--30 to 66 cm thick
Rock fragment content--0 to 15 percent

Bt horizons
Hue--7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y
Value--3 through 6 dry, and 2 through 5 moist
Chroma--2 through 4 dry and moist
Texture--clay to heavy silty clay loam, heavy clay loam or silty clay
Clay content--35 to 45 percent, weighted average of the top 50 cm of the Bt horizons; 30 to 45 percent for individual horizons
Structure--weak to moderate, medium to coarse prismatic, or fine to coarse, angular to subangular blocky
Clay films--few to continuous, thin
Rock fragment content--0 to 15 percent
Reaction--pH 5.6 to 6.1

C horizon (when present)
Hue--7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y
Value--6 through 8 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma--2 through 4 dry and moist
Texture--clay or sandy clay to silty clay loam, or loam and is gravelly or cobbly in some pedons
Reaction--pH 5.6 to 6.1

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Broadhead, Coburg, Cristo, Dixonville, Donner, Hankins, Henefer, Malabon, Silverton and Top series. Broadhead, Cristo and Henefer soils have base saturation of less than 75 percent in the upper 76 cm. Coburg, Dixonville, Malabon and Silverton soils have mesic temperature and mixed mineralogy. Dixonville and Silverton soils also have bedrock at depths of 50 to 100 cm. Donner soils have a paralithic contact with bedrock at depths of 50 to 100 cm and have mollic epipedons less than 50 cm thick. Hankins soils average 45 to 60 percent clay in the Bt horizon and have 2C horizons of very hard clayey sediments. Top soils have solums less than 100 cm thick.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform--foothill slopes
Elevation--1575 to 2050 meters
Slopes--10 to 50 percent
Parent material--residuum, colluvium, and local alluvium weathered from tuffaceous sandstone and tuffaceous limestone
Climate--moist subhumid
Mean annual precipitation--460 to 640 mm
Mean annual air temperature--6 to 7 degrees C
Mean summer temperature--14 to 17 degrees C
Frost-free period--80 to 100 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; slow permeability

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for watershed, range and wildlife habitat. Present native vegetation is bigtooth maple, Gambel oak, chokecherry, meadow-rue, goldenrod, big sagebrush and bearded wheatgrass and bluegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Bertag soils are inextensive in northern Utah; MLRA 47.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Morgan Area, Weber County, Utah, 1974

REMARKS: Bertag soils have a frigid temperature regime and a xeric soil moisture regime.

Bertag soils are in the Fine, montmorillonitic, frigid Pachic Ultic Argixerolls family.

Converted to metric, updated formatting, and O horizons were updated to start at zero. Competing series section was not updated. 9/2022

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.