LOCATION BUFFALO PARK            KS

Established Series
Rev. BLT/TDC
05/2018

BUFFALO PARK SERIES

The Buffalo Park series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loess. Buffalo Park soils are on hillslopes, rises, and plains on tableland in the Central High Tablelands (MLRA
72). The slopes range from 1 to 20 percent. Mean annual precipitation is 46 cm (18 inches), and the mean annual temperature is 12 degrees C (54 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Buffalo Park silt loam on a southeast facing, linear, 6 percent slope, at an elevation of 840 meters (2756 feet) in a Conservation Reserve Program field. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

Ap--0 to 11 cm; (0 to 4 inches); grayish brown (10YR 5/2),silt loam, 26 percent clay; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2), moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine roots throughout; strongly effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 7.5, 1:1 water; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. Lab sample# 01P01710

Bw--11 to 23 cm; (4 to 9 inches); 10 percent grayish brown (10YR 5/2) and 90 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), silty clay loam, 29 percent clay; 10 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and 90 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), moist; moderate medium granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine roots throughout; few fine cylindrical worm casts throughout; violent effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 7.7, 1:1 water; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. Lab sample# 01P01711

Bk1--23 to 40 cm; (9 to 16 inches); light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), silty clay loam, 28 percent clay; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), moist; moderate medium granular and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots throughout; common fine moderate continuity tubular pores; common fine irregular carbonate masses in matrix; few fine cylindrical worm casts throughout; violently effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 7.8, 1:1 water; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. Lab sample# 01p01712

Bk2--40 to 81 cm; (16 to 32 inches); light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), silty clay loam, 28 percent clay; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots throughout; common fine moderate continuity tubular pores; distinct discontinuous dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2), moist, organic stains on faces of peds; common fine and medium irregular soft masses of carbonate in matrix; violently
effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 8.0, 1:1 water; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. Lab sample# 01P01713

Bk3--81 to 106 cm; (32 to 42 inches); very pale brown (10YR 7/4), silty clay loam, 30 percent clay; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots throughout; many fine moderate continuity tubular pores; common fine irregular carbonate masses in matrix; violently effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 8.0, 1:1 water; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary; (combined thickness of the Bk horizon ranges from 75 to 180 centimeters (30 to 71 inches)). Lab sample# 01P01714

2Bk4--106 to 128 cm; (42 to 50 inches); reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6), silty clay loam, 32 percent clay; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6), moist; weak fine prismatic structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine roots throughout; many fine moderate continuity tubular pores; few fine irregular carbonate masses in matrix; violently effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 8.0, 1:1 water; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. Lab sample# 01P01715

2Bk5--128 to 200 cm; (50 to 79 inches); reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6), clay loam, 33 percent clay; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots throughout; common fine moderate continuity tubular pores; common fine irregular soft carbonate masses in matrix; violent effervescent, by HCl, 1 normal; pH 8.0, 1:1 water; moderately alkaline. Lab sample# 01P01716

TYPE LOCATION: Gove county, Kansas; about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) west and 3.2
kilometers (2 miles) north of Gove; located 53 meters (174 feet) east and 38 meters (125 feet)
north of the southwest corner of Section 22, T.12S, R.29W; Orion NE USGS quadrangle;
latitude 38 degrees 59 minutes 20.11 seconds N. and longitude 100 degrees 32 minutes 13.92
seconds W. (Nad 83); 4316671 meters North and 366867 meters East (UTM zone 14N NAD 83
meters).

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: It is intermittently moist in some part throughout the year; driest during October
through March; ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 10 to 12 C degrees (50 to 54 degrees F).
Depth to bedrock: greater than 200 centimeters (79 inches).
Particle-size control section: 19-34 percent clay by weighted average with less than 15 percent
fine sand and coarser
Depth to free carbonates: free carbonates at the surface with strong or violent effervescence

Ap horizon or A (where present):
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 6 (dry) and 3 to 5 (moist)
Chroma 2 to 4 (dry and moist)
Sand: 0 to 40 percent with less than 15 percent fine sand and coarser
Clay:16 to 35 percent
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, and loam
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Bw horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 5 to 7(dry), 3 to 6 (moist)
Chroma: 2 to 6 (dry and moist)
Sand: 0 to 40 percent with less than 15 percent fine sand and coarser
Clay: 18 to 34 percent
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, and loam
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Bk horizons:
Hue: 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 8 (dry and moist)
Chroma: 2 to 8 (dry and moist)
Sand: 0 to 40 percent with less than 15 percent fine sand and coarser
Clay: 18 to 34 percent
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, and loam
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline

2Bk horizon (where present):
Hue: 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 4 to 8 (dry and moist)
Chroma: 2 to 8 (dry and moist)
Sand: 0 to 45 percent
Clay: 18 to 37 percent
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, loam or clay loam
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Minqwet series.
Minqwet soils are moderately deep to paralithic contact.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess
Landform: hillslopes and plains on tableland
Slopes: 1 to 20 percent, most commonly 2 to 7 percent
Elevation: 732 to 1219 meters (2400 to 4000 feet)
Mean annual air temperature: 8 to 14 degrees C (46 to 57 degrees F)
Mean annual precipitation: 35 to 64 centimeters (14 to 25 inches)
Precipitation pattern: Most of the rainfall occurs as high-intensity, convective thunderstorms
from late spring through early autumn. Precipitation in winter generally occurs as snow.
Frost free period: 135 to 210 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Colby, Duroc, Keith, and
Ulysses soils.
Colby soils are on steeper side slopes or convex ridges.
Duroc soils are lower on the landscape, in draws
Keith soils have a mollic epipedon and are on adjacent interfluves.
Ulysses soils are on similar landscapes and have a mollic epipedon.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage: Well drained
Runoff: low or medium
Saturated hydraulic conductivity: high or moderately high

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly cultivated to winter wheat and grain sorghum. Native
vegetation is short and mid grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Kansas; LRR H, MLRA 72 Central High
Tablelands. The Buffalo Park series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Salina, Kansas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gove County, Kansas, 2018.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: the zone from the surface to a depth of 11 centimeters (4 inches) (Ap horizon).
When this horizon meets the color requirements of a mollic epipedon, if fails to meet the
thickness requirements.
Cambic horizon: the zone from 11 to 40 centimeters (4 to 16 inches) (Bw, Bk1 horizons).
The lithologic discontinuity is not diagnostic.
Moisture regime: ustic/aridic
The assignment of the cation-exchange activity class is supported by lab sample numbers:
03N0882, 01P0281, and 95P0486.
Taxonomy version: Eleventh edition, 2010

ADDITIONAL DATA: This series is being established due to erosion of the Ulysses series.
Additional data is available for this pedon (KSSL lab pedon IDs 03N0881, 03N0882, 01P0281,
95P0486, 87P0014, 87P0015, 87P0027, and 87P0028).

Buffalo Park Series
LRR = H
Date 08/15/2012

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.