LOCATION BURKE WA+OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Xeric Haplodurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Burke silt loam - grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; mildly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Bk--4 to 22 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; few lime-silica cemented fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (14 to 34 inches thick)
2Bkqm--22 to 60 inches; indurated lime-silica duripan.
TYPE LOCATION: Adams County, Washington; about 1/2 mile south of Othello, 450 feet west and 150 feet north of southeast corner section 3, T. 25 N., R. 29 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches ranges from 50 to 54 degrees F. These soils are usually dry in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches. Depth to the duripan ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The depth to the Bk horizon is 4 to 36 inches. The Bk horizon has less than 15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent. They have value of 6 to 8 dry, 4 to 6 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry and moist. They are silt loam or very fine sandy loam. The duripan is 6 inches to several feet thick and overlies weakly consolidated alluvium, lake sediments, loess, gravelly alluvial deposits, or basalt.
The A horizon is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
Some pedons have Bw horizons.
The Bk horizon is moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Dolman, Minidoka, Nyssa, Sluka, and Stanfield series in the same family and the Koehler, Prineville, and Taunton series. Dolman soils are 14 inches or greater to carbonates. Prineville, and Taunton soils are coarse-loamy. Koehler soils are sandy. Minidoka soils have a Bk horizon with 15 to 40 percent calcium carbonate equivalent. Nyssa soils have have average annual soil temperature of 49 to 51 degrees F. and are greater than 13 inches to carbonates. Sluka soils have 12 to 18 percent clay in the control section and have more than 20 percent durinodes above the pan. Stanfield soils have a decrease in exchangeable sodium from the upper 10 inches to the underlying horizons and have strongly alkaline or very strongly alkaline zones above the duripan.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Burke soils are on uplands at elevations of 650 to 1,600 feet. Slopes are 0 to 65 percent. The soils formed in loess mantling a duripan. They are in an arid climate with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 6 to 9 inches. Mean January temperature is 30 degrees F. Mean July temperature is about 73 degrees F. Mean annual temperature is 50 to 53 degrees F. Frost-free season is 135 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Prosser and Shano soils. Prosser soils have a lithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Shano soils lack a duripan within 1 meter of the surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; very slow to medium runoff; moderate permeability above the duripan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dryland wheat production and irrigated cropland. Some areas are in range. Native vegetation is bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, and big sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and south-central Washington and north-central Oregon. Series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Franklin County, Washington, 1914.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are an ochric epipedon from the surface to 4 inches, a zone of carbonate accumulation from 4 to 22 inches, and a duripan at 22 inches. This soil is reclassified based on amendment 17 of Soil Taxonomy.