LOCATION BYLAS AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Typic Haplodurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Bylas very gravelly loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 0.5 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong thin and medium platy structure; soft, loose, nonsticky, and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine and fine pores; 40 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles; violent effervescent; 30 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; strongly alkaline, pH 8.6; clear wavy boundary. (.5 to 2 inches thick)
Bk--0.5 to 6 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) very flaggy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; soft, loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and medium and few coarse roots; common very fine pores; 15 percent gravel, 40 percent calcrete flagstones; violent effervescent, 32 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; strongly alkaline, pH 8.6; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 13 inches thick)
Bkqm--6 to 8 inches; cemented material, duripan.
R--8 inches; lacustrine limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Graham County, Arizona; located at a latitude of 33 degrees, 12 minutes, 48.7 seconds north, and a longitude of 110 degrees, 11 minutes, 26.7 seconds west; NAD 83; Topographic quadrangle: Calva, Arizona, about 1,950 feet north and 300 feet west of the southeast corner of section 33, T. 2 S., R 21 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December - February and for more than 20 cumulative days during July - September. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 8 to 30 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent
Depth to duripan: 4 to 18 inches
Depth to bedrock: 5 to 20 inches
Soil Temperature: 62 to 69 degrees F.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 20 to 39 percent
Effervescence: strong to violent
Reaction (pH): moderately alkaline to strongly alkaline (7.9 to 9.0)
A horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 5 to 8 dry, 3 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Effervescence: strong or violent
Texture: sandy loam, loam, clay loam
Rock Fragments: 20 to 40 percent
Bk horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR dry, 7.5YR moist
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Texture: loam, clay loam
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent calcrete gravel, cobble and flagstone, strongly cemented or indurated
Bkqm horizon
Highly fractured, indurated duripan 1 to 15 inches thick
R horizon
Bedrock is lacustrine limestone and sandstone
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cline (AZ), Crosgrain (NV), Gotchell (AZ), Greyeagle (CA), Longjim (NV), Marsite (CA), Nonamelake (I)(CA), and Tumarion (AZ) series. Gotchell, Crosgrain, Greyeagle and Longjim soils do not have bedrock at depths less than 20 inches. Tumarion and Marsite soils are moist for less than 20 cumulative days during July-September. Cline soils do not have secondary carbonate accumulations or a strongly alkaline reactivity class, and are over basalt. Nonamelake soils are inactive.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bylas soils are on dissected relict lakebeds of Pliocene and Pleistocene age. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. These soils formed in alluvium and residuum from lacustrine limestone and sandstone which were influenced by silicate-rich deposits from nearby volcanoes. Elevations range from 2,500 to 3,800 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 12 inches and occurs as thunderstorms during July to September, and gentle rains during December and January. May and June are the driest months. The mean annual air temperature is 60 to 67 degrees F. The frost-free period is about 190 to 250 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Frye and Stagecoach soils. Frye soils have an argillic horizon. Stagecoach soils are very deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation includes creosotebush, range ratany, ocotillo, cholla, velvet mesquite, ephedra, Arizona cliff-rose, and canotia.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Arizona. This series is of small extent in MLRA 41. The name is from the nearby community of Bylas.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Graham County, Arizona; Soil survey of San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona, Parts of Gila and Graham Counties (AZ675), 2009.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to .5 inch (A horizon)
Duripan- the zone from 6 to 8 inches (Bkqm horizon)
Lithic contact - the boundary at 8 inches (R horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.