LOCATION BLAG WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haploxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Blag gravelly sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 6 inches; light brownish gray (l0YR 6/2) gravelly sandy loam, dark brown (l0YR 4/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine roots; few fine tubular pores; l5 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 7.2); gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw--6 to l6 inches; pale brown (l0YR 6/3) gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (l0YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine tubular pores; 20 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 7.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to l4 inches thick)
R--l6 inches; sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Chelan County, Washington; l 1/2 miles north of Leavenworth; l,650 feet north and 650 feet west of southeast corner, sec. 36, T. 25 N., R. l7 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to a lithic contact with sandstone ranges from l0 to 20 inches. Some pedons have an 0i horizon. These soils are usually moist but are dry in the moisture control section for 75 to 90 consecutive days following summer solstice. The particle-size control section averages 5 to 10 percent clay.
The A horizon has value of 3 or 4 moist and chroma of 2 or 3 dry. Structure is weak fine or medium granular or crumb.
The Bw horizon has value of 4 or 5 moist and chroma of 3 or 4 dry. Structure is weak fine or medium subangular blocky. Rock fragments ranges from 5 to 20 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Gassaway and Shoat series. Gassaway soils are dry for more than90 consecutive days. Shoat soils are 15 to 25 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Blag soils are on mountainsides that generally have a southerly aspect. Slopes range from 30 to 80 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium derived primarily from sandstone of the Chumstick formation. Elevations are l,500 to 4,000 feet. These soils are in a climate with warm dry summers and cool moist winters with a snow pack from about December to March. The average annual precipitation is 18 to 28 inches. The average January temperature is about 26 degrees F., average July temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the average annual air temperature is 45 to 47 degrees F. The growing season at 28 degrees F is l60 to l85 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Brisky, Nard, Shaser, Scotties and Cle Elum soils. Brisky soils have a mollic epipedon and are loamy-skeletal. Nard soils are deep and fine-loamy. Shaser and Scotties soils are deep and are loamy-skeletal. Cle Elum soils are 20 to 40 inches deep and are fine-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid or very rapid runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat, recreation, watershed, and grazeable woodland. Native vegetation is ponderosa pine, with an understory of antelope, bitterbrush, elk sedge, spirea, and arrowleaf balsam root.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East slopes of the Cascade Mountains in southern Chelan and northern Kittitas Counties. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Chelan County, Washington, l995.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are an ochric epipedon from surface to 6 inches, a cambic horizon from 6 to 16 inches, and a lithic contact at 16 inches.