LOCATION CASHION AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey over loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, hyperthermic Typic Torrifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Cashion clay - cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 10 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular and interstitial pores; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)
A--10 to 27 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular and interstitial pores; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)
2C1--27 to 29 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) stratified very fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular and interstitial pores; m any very fine mica flakes; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
2C2--29 to 60 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) stratified silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; many very fine mica flakes; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Maricopa County, Arizona; 1,620 feet east and 2,540 feet south of the NW1/4 corner of sec. 3, T. 1 S., R. 3 W. Lat. 33 degrees 22 minutes 13 seconds N. and long. 112 degrees 33 minutes 2 seconds W., NAD 83
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September and December-February. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Dark colored surface horizons - surface horizons averaging more than 1 percent organic matter have a cumulative thickness of 18 to 38 inches
Depth to contrasting material - usually is 24 to 30 inches, but ranges from 20 to 39 inches
Salinity- EC ranges from less than 2 to 16 dS/m or more
Reaction - slightly to strongly alkaline
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR.
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2, 3, 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Texture: clay, silty clay, silty clay loam, clay loam (30 to 50 percent clay)
C horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4, 5, or 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2, 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: stratified loam, silt loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam; some pedons have a few thin layers of finer or coarser textured material (18 to 25 percent clay)
Some pedons contain a few fine accumulations of salt, gypsum or calcium carbonate.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cashion soils are on flood plains. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in fine-textured sediments underlain by medium and moderately coarse-textured alluvium at depths of about 2 feet. The alluvium is derived from acid and basic igneous rocks, quartzite, shale and limestone. Elevations are 400 to 2,500 feet. The climate is hot arid and semiarid continental. Mean annual precipitation is 3 to 10 inches. Mean annual air temperature is 67 degrees to 75 degrees F. Frost-free period is about 240 to 350 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Casa Grande, Dateland, Denure, Gadsden, Gilman, Glenbar, Pimer and Sasco soils. Casa Grande soils have natric horizons and are on slightly higher relict basin floors. Dateland, Denure and Sasco soils have cambic horizons and are on slightly higher stream terraces and relict basin floors. Gadsden, Gilman, Glenbar, and Pimer soils are on adjacent flood plains. Gadsden soils are fine, Gilman soils are coarse-loamy, and Glenbar and Pimer soils are fine-silty.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow or very slow runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for limited livestock grazing following seasonal rains and, when irrigated, for growing cultivated crops such as alfalfa, cotton, small grains and some pasture. Native vegetation is mesquite, creosotebush, salt cedar, chamiza, and annual weeds and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Arizona. The series is not extensive. Total extent is about 9,800 acres. MLRA 40.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eastern Maricopa and Northern Pinal Counties Area, Arizona, 1969.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Entisol feature the absence of diagnostic horizons.
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006
Revised for the correlation of AZ661, 11/08, PDC