LOCATION CASMOS UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Lithic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Casmos channery loam, on a north facing, concave-convex, 15 percent slope in black sagebrush, shadscale, spiny horsebrush and galleta rangeland at an elevation of 5,450 feet. (Colors are for air-dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered with 80 percent angular gravel and channers.
A--0 to 2 inches; pale yellow (5Y 7/3) channery loam, olive (5Y 5/3) moist; weak thin platy structure parting to moderate very fine subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, fine, and very fine roots; few fine, common very fine vesicular and few fine, common very fine random tubular pores; 15 percent channers; slightly effervescent, carbonates are disseminated; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
C--2 to 18 inches; light gray (5Y 7/2) loam, olive gray (5Y 5/2) moist; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and very fine roots; common fine and very fine interstitial pores; 10 percent parachanners, 10 percent channers; slightly effervescent, carbonates are disseminated; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
R--18 inches; hard siltstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Duchesne County, Utah; about 11 miles south of Myton; 500
feet north and 950 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 18, T. 9 S., R. 17 E., SLBM; Myton SE, Utah USGS quadrangle; lat. 40 degrees 01 minute 32 seconds N. and long. 110 degrees 02 minutes 33 seconds W., NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is affected by precipitation that falls evenly throughout the year with a slight increase in late summer and fall. Aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 54 degrees F.
Surface rock fragments: 30 to 80 percent channers, parachanners, cobbles, stones, and boulders.
Depth to lithic contact: 4 to 20 inches.
Calcium carbonate content: 1 to 15 percent
Gypsum content: 0 to 2 percent
Particle-size control section: 18 to 35 percent clay, 0 to 35 percent parachanners, 5 to 35 percent rock fragments, 0 to 10 percent parafragments (shale, siltstone and sandstone)
A horizon:
Hue; 10YR to 5Y
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: gravelly fine sandy loam, channery fine sandy loam, channery loam, very stony loam, very channery loam
Rock fragments: 15 to 60 percent gravel, channers, flagstones, stones or boulders
Pararock fragments: 0 to 10 percent
SAR: 0 to 10
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
C horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: loam, clay loam, channery loam, channery clay loam, very channery loam
Rock fragments: 0 to 60 percent gravel, channers, cobbles, stones, flagstones or boulders
Pararock fragments: 0 to 35 percent
SAR: 0 to 10
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Braf, Farb, Juanalo and Moenkopie series.
The Braf, Farb and Moenkopie soils have less than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Juanalo soils have a cambic horizon and have more than 15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent throughout.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and colluvium over residuum derived from sandstone, siltstone and shale
Landscape: hillslopes, structural benches, ridges and canyons
Slopes: 2 to 70 percent
Elevation: 4,200 to 6,200 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 45 to 53 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: Mean annual precipitation ranges from 5 to 9 inches
Precipitation pattern: Wettest months are July to October and driest months are December and June.
Frost-free period: 110 to 160 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cadrina, Ioka, Motto and Turzo series.
Cadrina soils are on hillslopes and have 35 percent or more rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
Ioka soils are on hill toeslopes and are very deep.
Motto soils are on hillslopes and have a natric horizon.
Turzo soils are on alluvial flats and are very deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to very high runoff; moderate or moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for rangeland, wildlife
habitat and recreation. Potential native vegetation is mainly black sagebrush,
shadscale, bottlebrush squirreltail, and galleta. This soil has been correlated to the Desert Shallow Loam (Black Sagebrush) - 034XY118UT range site at the type location in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern and central Utah. LRR D, MLRA 34. The series is of moderate extent; about 40,000 acres have been mapped.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Carbon County, Utah, 1982. The name is coined.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 18 inches. (C horizon)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 2 inches. (A horizon)
Lithic contact: The contact with hard siltstone at 18 inches. (R layer)
The cation exchange activity class was inferred from laboratory data from similar soils in the Uintah Area Soil Survey.
Last updated by state: 3/99.
Taxonomic version: Tenth Edition, 2006.