LOCATION CANTALA OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Cantala silt loam, cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; neutral (pH 6.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
A1--8 to 13 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.6); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
A2--13 to 18 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--18 to 35 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
Bw2--35 to 54 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0) clear wavy boundary. (12 to 24 inches thick)
2C--54 to 62 inches; dark brown (10YR 4/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; many very hard firm noncalcareous nodules 1/4 to 1 inch in diameter; few mycelia lime below 60 inches; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4). (0 to 20 inches thick)
3R--62 inches, basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Wasco County, Oregon; 65 feet west of county road in SE1/4 SE1/4 SE1/4 sec. 5, T. 2 S., R. 15 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: In most years the soil is usually moist but is dry for 80 to 90 consecutive days between depths of 4 and 12 inches within the 4-month period following the summer solstice. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 54 degrees F. The solum is 40 to 60 inches thick and depth to bedrock is 40 inches or more. The mollic epipedon is 10 to 20 inches thick. Organic matter decreases to less than 1 percent above a depth of 20 inches and commonly between 10 and 15 inches. The solum is neutral but the soil ranges to mildly or moderately alkaline below depth of 60 inches.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry.
The B horizon has value of 3 or 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry and chroma of 2 thru 4 moist and dry. It is silt loam and has 18 to 27 percent clay and less than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand. It has weak to moderate structure.
The 2C horizon has value of 3 to 5 moist, 5 or 6 dry and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is silt loam or loam.
Stratified sandy or silty materials are below depth of 40 inches in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Condon and Couse series. Condon soils have bedrock at 20 to 40 inches. Couse soils have a buried soil at 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cantala soils are on uplands at elevations of 1,100 to 3,600 feet. Slope ranges from 1 to 35 percent. These soils formed in a loess mantle with an appreciable component of volcanic ash overlying stratified alluvium and basalt bedrock. Summers are warm and dry with a mean summer temperature of 62 to 66 degrees F. Winters are cool and moist with a mean winter temperature of 31 to 35 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F. Precipitation ranges from 10 to 16 inches annually. The frost-free period is 100 to 165 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bakeoven, Lickskillet, Morrow and Wrentham soils and the competing Condon soils. Bakeoven, Lickskillet and Wrentham soils contain more than 35 percent fragments coarser than 2mm. Bakeoven and Lickskillet soils are less than 20 inches deep to bedrock. Morrow soils have an argillic and calcic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is for production of grain crops. Other uses include hay, pasture and native range. Vegetation is mainly bluegrasses, forbs and bush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central Oregon. The soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wasco County, Oregon, 1975.
REMARKS: The Cantala soils were formerly mapped as a deep phase of Condon series in Sherman County, Oregon.