LOCATION BIRDSBEAK AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic, shallow Ustic Haplargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Birdsbeak very channery loam - woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 2 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very channery loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; noneffervescent; 40 percent channers, 5 percent flagstone; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Bt1--2 to 4 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very channery clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on ped faces and lining pores; noneffervescent; 40 percent channers; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
Bt2--4 to 8 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) very channery clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; moderate very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on ped faces and lining pores; noneffervescent; 50 percent channers; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
2Crt--8 to 21 inches; schist, minor areas of soil material in fractures and clay coating some vertical fractures.
2Cr--21 to 60 inches; schist.
TYPE LOCATION: Mohave County, Arizona; about 8 miles south of Truxton; 35 degrees, 22 minutes, 50 seconds north latitude and 113 degrees, 32 minutes, 46 seconds west longitude; about 2,200 feet south and 1,300 feet west of the northeast corner of section 15, T. 23 N., R 12 W.
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. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil Temperature: 54 to 57 degrees F.
Rock fragments: 35 to 65 percent channers or gravel and 0 to 10 percent flagstone or cobble
Reaction: slightly to strongly alkaline. Noneffervescent or slightly effervescent
Clay content: 35 to 50 percent
Depth to weathered bedrock: 4 to 20 inches
A horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Bt horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: clay loam, clay
Some pedons do not have clay coatings and soil material in bedrock fractures.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Birdsbeak soils are on hills at elevations of 4,700 to 5,200 feet. They formed in alluvium from schist. Slopes range from 10 to 35 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 14 inches. The mean annual air temperature is 52 to 55 degrees F. The frost-free period is 150 to 165 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Pastern, Strych and Taine soils. The Pastern soils have a hardpan at depths less than 20 inches. Strych soils are very deep. Taine soils are shallow to hard bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Birdsbeak soils are used for livestock grazing and wood production. Vegetation includes an overstory of Utah juniper and singleleaf pinyon and an understory of turbinella oak, desert ceanothus, sideoats grama and blue grama.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Arizona. The series is of small extent. MLRA is 35.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mohave County, Arizona. Soil survey of Mohave County, AZ, Central Part; 2005.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - The zone from 2 to 8 inches (Bt1, Bt2 horizons)
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 8 inches (2Crt horizon)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Ninth Edition, 2003.