LOCATION CATCHELL                ID

Established Series
Rev. CWC/ALH/RWL
08/2021

CATCHELL SERIES

The Catchell series consists of moderately deep to a duripan, well drained soils that formed in a thin mantle of loess over silty alluvium from loess and weathered of volcanic ash mixed with colluvium from basalt or welded rhyolitic tuff. They are on lava plains, structural benches, mesas, buttes, and foothills. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. Permeability is very slow. Average annual precipitation is about 250 mm and average annual temperature is about 9 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Abruptic Xeric Argidurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Catchell silt loam, rangeland. (Colors are for air dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

E--0 to 8 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak thin and medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many fine irregular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 20 cm thick)

2Bt1--8 to 36 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium columnar structure that parts to strong fine and medium angular blocky; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 33 cm thick)

2Bt2--36 to 43 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine and medium angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; common very fine and fine roots; many fine tubular pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 13 cm thick)

2Btk--43 to 69 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; carbonates in masses on faces of peds; strong effervescence (about 10 percent calcium carbonate); moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 30 cm thick)

2Bk--69 to 79 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate very fine and fine angular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; common medium segregated soft lime masses; violent effervescence (about 30 percent calcium carbonate); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 15 cm thick)

3Bkqm--79 to 81 cm; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) continuous indurated duripan, very pale brown (10YR 8/3) moist; strong medium plates; very hard, very firm; violent effervescence; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 13 cm thick)

4R--81 cm; lime coated fractured basalt.

TYPE LOCATION: Gooding County Idaho; about 14.5 km north and 8.8 km west of Gooding; SW1/4 NW1/4 of section 20, T. 4 S., R. l4 E. USGS McKinney Butte Quadrangle.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Organic matter content (upper 38 cm) - 1 to 2 percent
Depth to bedrock - 64 to 100 cm
Depth to duripan - 50 to 97 cm
Depth to calcium carbonates - 43 to 53 cm
Average annual soil temperature - 8 to 13 degrees C.
Particle-size control section - 35 to 50 percent clay; 0 to 10 percent rock fragments
Soil moisture control section - dry more than 50 percent of the time soil temperature is above 5 degrees C. and moist less than 90 consecutive days when the soil temperature is above 8 degrees C.

E horizon
Value - 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma - 2 or 3 dry or moist
"Stonelines" of large gravels and cobbles are common at lower boundary.

2Bt (and 2Btk) horizons
Hue - 7.5YR or 10YR
Value - 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma - 3 through 6 dry or moist
Texture - SICL, SIC, CL or C
Clay content - 35 to 50 percent
Rock fragments - 0 to 10 percent gravel
Reaction (pH) - neutral through moderately alkaline

2Bk horizon
Value - 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist
Chroma - 3 or 4 dry or moist
Texture - L, SICL or SIL
Clay content - 10 to 30 percent
Rock fragments - 0 to 35 percent gravel

3Bkqm cementation - very strong to indurated
Some pedons lack a continuous laminar cap over the duripan

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chilcott, Kepler, Lookout, Lovejoy, Novacan, Pigtail and Reno series. All of these soils lack a lithic contact between 50 and 100 cm.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on plug domes (buttes), lava flow lobes, pressure ridges and tumuli on shield volcanoes and lava plains, and on structural benches, mesas, buttes, and foothills with slopes of 0 to 30 percent. Elevation ranges from 850 to 1625 meters. The soils formed in a thin mantle of loess over silty alluvium from loess and weathered volcanic ash mixed with colluvium from basalt or welded rhyolitic tuff. The climate is semiarid and summers are dry. The average annual temperature is about 7 to 12 degrees C, and the average annual precipitation is about 200 to 330 mm, including up to 910 mm of snow. The frost-free period is about 90 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gooding, Karcal, Power, and Yutrue soils. Gooding soils are 100 to 150 cm to a lithic contact. Karcal and Yutrue soils are clayey to the surface. Power soils have a Bt that has 24 to 35 percent clay.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to rapid runoff; very slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Catchell soils are used mainly for rangeland, irrigated pasture, and wildlife habitat. The dominant natural vegetation is big sagebrush, low sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, Thurber needlegrass, and Sandberg bluegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern and southcentral Idaho; MLRA 11 and 25. The series is inextensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Owyhee County Area, Idaho, 1992.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon:

Ochric epipedon - zone from 0 to 8 cm (E horizon)

Argillic horizon - zone 8 to 69 cm (2Bt1, 2Bt2, and 2Btk horizons)

Calcic horizon - zone 69 to 79 cm (2Bk horizon)

Duripan - zone 79 to 81 cm (3Bkqm horizon)

Particle-size control section - zone 8 to 69 cm

Soil moisture regime - aridic bordering xeric

The classification of this pedon has been revised as of 4/00 from fine, smectitic, mesic Abruptic Xerollic Durargids to fine, smectitic, mesic Abruptic Xeric Argidurids based on revisions to Soil Taxonomy.

Geographic setting - terms used throughout MLRA 11 to identify the setting of this soil are quite varied although all equate to the same landscape. There will be further investigation from an MLRA project level as to the accepted terms for use.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.