LOCATION BIRDSVIEW WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Dystric Xeropsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Birdsview loamy sand, on a 57 percent southeast facing slope under a Douglas-fir canopy. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
0--4 inches to 0; leaves, needles, and large wood debris.
A--0 to 5 inches; dark brown (l0YR 3/3) loamy sand, yellowish brown (l0YR 5/4) dry; single grain; loose; common fine roots; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
Bwl--5 to 30 inches; dark yellowish brown (l0YR 4/4) loamy sand; light yellowish brown (l0YR 6/4) dry; single grain; loose; common medium roots; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary. (9 to 25 inches thick)
Bw2--30 to 54 inches; dark yellowish brown (l0YR 4/4) sand; light yellowish brown (l0YR 6/4) dry; single grain; loose; very few very fine roots; medium acid (pH 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (l0 to 26 inches thick)
C--54 to 60 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and olive gray (5Y 4/2) sand, light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) and olive gray (5Y 4/2) dry; single grain; loose; very few very fine roots; slightly acid (pH 6.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Skagit County, Washington; about 4 miles south and 2 miles east of Concrete; l,550 feet north and l,300 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 25, T. 35 N., R. 8 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is estimated to range from 47 to 5l degrees F. This soils is usually moist but is dry in all parts of the soil moisture control section for 45 to 60 days within the four months that follow the summer solstice in 6 or more years out of ten. The series control section contains less than l5 percent coarse fragments.
The A horizon has hue of l0YR or 7.5YR; value of 3 through 5 moist, 5 through 7 dry; and chroma of 3 or 4 moist or dry. Reaction is very strongly acid through slightly acid. Some pedons have E horizons.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y; value of 4 or 5 moist, 5 through 7 dry; and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is loamy fine sand, loamy sand or sand. Reaction is strongly acid through slightly acid.
The C horizon has hue of l0YR through 5Y; value of 4 or 5 moist, 5 or 6 dry; and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It is sand or loamy sand. Reaction is medium acid or slightly acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Greenwater, Indianola, Keystone, and Pilchuck series. All of these soils are dry in the moisture control section more than 60 consecutive days following the summer solstice. In addition, Keystone soils are dry for 75 to 90 days. Greenwater soils have 5 to 25 percent of the whole soil volcanic ash and pumice. Pilchuck soils lack a B horizon and have a chroma of 2 or less throughout the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Birdsview soils are on gently undulating outwash terraces and deeply dissected outwash terraces. Slopes are 0 to 80 percent slopes. Elevation is from 200 to l,200 feet. These soils formed in sandy glacial outwash. They occur in a climate having a mean annual precipitation of 60 to 85 inches. Average January temperature is about 37 degrees F. and average July temperature is about 65 degrees F. The frost-free season is about l60 to 220 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Barneston,
Nargar,
Tokul and
Vanzandt soils and competing
Greenwater soils. Barneston, and Vanzandt soils contain greater than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Nargar soils are me
dial over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Tokul soils are medial and have a duripan.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; slow runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly in woodland. Native vegetation includes Douglas-fir, western hemlock and western redcedar with an understory of salal, dwarf Oregon-grape, western brackenfern, western swordfern and vine maple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Skagit County, Washington. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Skagit County, Washington, l981.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon ae an ochric epipedon from the mineral surface to 5 inches and a particle-size control section from 10 to 40 inches that is sandy throughout.