LOCATION BUSTER NVInactive Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Durinodic Xeric Calciargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Buster very gravelly loamy sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with approximately 25 percent gravel. The lithology is welded tuff.
A--0 to 11 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/2) very gravelly loamy sand, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 50 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.9); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 13 cm thick)
Bt1--11 to 27 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/4) sandy clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and common fine and medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular and interstitial pores; common faint clay films bridging sand grains, 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.9); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 20 cm thick)
Bt2--27 to 48 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/4) sandy clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few very fine and fine tubular and interstitial pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 30 cm thick)
Bqk--48 to 88 cm; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) gravelly loamy sand, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; common very fine and fine interstitial pores; common (5 percent) fine secondary calcium carbonate concretions on bottom of rock fragments, many (20 percent) durinodes with brittle rupture resistance; 20 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (20 to 50 cm thick)
2Bkq--88 to 180 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/4) stratified extremely gravelly coarse sand and loamy coarse sand, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; granular; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine interstitial pores; common (3 percent) fine secondary calcium carbonate masses segregated in the matrix; few discontinuous strongly silica-cemented lenses; 70 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5).
TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, Nevada; in Spring Valley about 0.6 kilometers west of the Hollinger Debris Dam on Meadow Valley Wash; approximately 2,240 feet south and 1,270 feet west of the northeast corner of section 19, T. 3 N., R. 70 E.; USGS Eagle Valley Reservoir 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 06 minutes 17.3 seconds N, and longitude 114 degrees 10 minutes 38.2 seconds W; UTM 11, 747498e, 4221207n; NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry; moist in winter and spring and for 10 to 20 days cumulative from July through September due to summer convection storms. Aridic bordering xeric soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 7.2 to 10 degrees C.
Depth to base of argillic horizon - 40 to 60 cm.
Depth to calcic horizon - 40 to 60 cm.
Depth to identifiable secondary carbonates - 12 to 46 cm.
Control Section - Clay content: 27 to 35 percent
Rock Fragments: 0 to 15 percent
A horizon - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist; When the upper 18 cm of the soil is mixed the color value is 6 dry and 4 moist or the thickness having a value of 5 dry and 3 moist is less than 1/3 the thickness of the solum.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Structure: Thick or medium platy structure or coarse subangular blocky.
Other features: The surface 3 to 5 cm in some pedons has a fine gravelly loamy fine sand, or fine sand mulch. The remainder of the A horizon has common or many very fine to medium vesicular pores.
Reaction: Neutral, pH 6.8 to 7.2.
Bt horizons - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 through 5, dry or moist.
Texture: Sandy clay loam or clay loam.
Clay content: 25 to 35 percent.
Structure: Fine to coarse subangular or angular blocky structure.
Reaction: Neutral to slightly alkaline, pH 6.8 to 8.2.
The argillic horizon is 25 to 50 cm thick and includes the Bt3 horizon (when present) in some pedons.
Bqk horizon - Hue: 7.5YR to 10YR
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 4 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 25 percent.
2Bkq horizon - Texture: Stratified sandy loam, loamy coarse sand, and/or sand, with thin strata of silt loam in some pedons. Individual layers can contain 30 to 70 percent rock fragments.
Secondary silica: Very thin 1 to 2 mm discontinuous, strongly cemented lenses.
Reaction: Moderately to strongly alkaline, pH 8.2 to 8.6.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Monox series. Monox soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the strongly contrasting substratum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Buster soils are on fan remnants and high stream terraces. They typically occur on summit positions. They formed in alluvium derived from welded tuff over lacustrine deposits. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Elevation ranges from 1,829 to 2,012 meters. The climate is semiarid and characterized by cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The annual precipitation is 200 to 300 mm, the mean annual temperature is 7.2 to 10 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 90 to 110 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Decathon and Holtle soils. Decathon soils have duripans. Holtle soils have mollic epipedons and have durinodes in a friable matrix.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium surface runoff; moderately slow permeability in the upper part of the subsoil and rapid in the substratum; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Buster soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The potential native vegetation is Wyoming big sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, and needleandthread. This pedon is correlated to Ecological Site R028AY015NV, Loamy 8-10 P.Z.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 5,300 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 28A and 29.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County (Meadow Valley Area), Nevada, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 18 cm (A horizon).
Argillic horizon: 11 cm to 48 cm (Bt horizons).
Calcic horizon: 48 to 180 cm (Bqk horizon).
Durinodes: 48 to 88 cm (Bqk horizon).
Particle-size control section: The zone from 11 to 48 cm (Bt horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: The revision of July 2002 updated the taxonomic class from Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Durinodic Xeric Haplargids.