LOCATION BLEWETT WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Lithic Ultic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Blewett very gravelly sandy loam - under a sparse coniferous forest on a 62 percent southwest facing slope at an elevation of 3,800 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. All textures are apparent field textures.)
Oi--l/2 to 0 inch; undecomposed forest litter. (l/2 to l inch thick).
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (l0YR 5/3) very gravelly sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (l0YR 3/2) moist; weak medium granular structure; soft very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and very fine roots; common medium tubular pores; 25 percent pebbles, l0 percent cobbles and 5 percent soft pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
Bw--3 to l0 inches; yellowish brown (l0YR 5/4) extremely gravelly sandy loam, dark brown (l0YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 50 percent pebbles, l5 percent cobbles and l5 percent soft pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear wavy boundary. (5 to l0 inches thick)
R--l0 inches; sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Chelan County, Washington; about l5 miles south of Peshastin; 2,200 feet south and 2,000 feet west of northeast corner of sec. 26, T. 22 N., R. l7 E., W.M.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to bedrock ranges from l0 to 20 inches. These soils are usually moist but are dry in the moisture control section for 75 to 90 consecutive days following summer solstice. The mean annual soil temperature is estimated to range from 43 to 47 degrees F. The control section averages 35 to 80 percent coarse fragments and 5 to 20 percent soft sandstone fragments.
The A horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moist.
The B horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist and chroma of 2 through 5 dry or moist. Textures are very gravelly sandy loam, very gravelly loam or extremely gravelly sandy loam. Reaction is slightly acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Baldknob, Chumstick, Fivebit, Franktown, Laycock, and Logdell series. All of these soils except Fivebit lack a Bw horizon. Fivebit soils contain more clay. Franktown soils have a C horizon. Laycock soils have an AC horizon. Logdell soils are underlain by fractured shale at a depth of 5 to l2 inches. Chumstick soils are 35 to 70 percent schist, gneiss and granitic rock fragments, and lack 5 to 20 percent soft sandstone fragments. Baldknob soils are dry for 60 to 75 consecutive days and lack 5 to 20 percent soft sandstone fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Blewett soils are on mountainsides and ridgetops with southerly aspects at elevations of 3,600 to 5,800 feet. Slopes are 30 to 65 percent. Blewett soils formed in residuum and colluvium from sandstone mixed with volcanic ash and loess. These soils are in a climate with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The average January temperature is about 24 degrees F., average July temperature is about 67 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature is about 42 to 44 degrees F. The average annual precipitation is 22 to 40 inches. The growing season at 28 degrees F is 130 to l70 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SO(LS: These are the Shaser, Scotties, Brisky and Nard soils. Shaser, Scotties and Nard soils are deep. Brisky soils are mesic.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium to very rapid runoff, moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Grazeable woodland, wildlife habitat and watershed. Native vegetation is scattered Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine, with an understory of pinegrass, elksedge, bluebunch wheatgrass, bitterbrush and Spirea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East slopes of the Cascade mountains in southern Chelan and northern Kittitas Counties, Washington. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES PROPOSED: Chelan County, Washington, l98l.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are a mollic epipedon from the mineral surface to 10 inches and a lithic contact at 10 inches. The base saturation (by sum) is assumed to be below 75 percent in some part of the mollic epipedon.