LOCATION CAVAL UT
Established Series
Rev. KMD/VLM/RLB
09/2018
CAVAL SERIES
The Caval series consist of very deep, well drained moderately permeable soils that form in deposits of sandstone. Caval soils are on undulating to rolling slopes of upland valleys and mesas. Slopes range from 2 to 10 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches and mean annual temperature is about 48 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Caval fine sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for air dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 9 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, 0very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 16 inches thick)
A2--9 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 6.8); gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
A3--16 to 23 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 6.8); gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
C--23 to 41 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 6.9); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 25 inches thick)
B1b--41 to 51 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; had, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common fine, many very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
B2tb--51 to 60 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) sandy clay loam; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; few fine, common very fine tubular pores; many moderately thick clay films on faces of peds and in pores; neutral (pH 6.7).
TYPE LOCATION: Washington County, Utah; Cave Valley; 200 feet north and 600 feet west of the center of sec. 32, T.39S., R.11W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Organic matter: Below depth of 20 inches the organic matter percentage is less than 1 percent.
Mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches is estimate to range from 47 degrees to 53 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature is 65 degrees to 68 degrees F.
Soil moisture: The soils are usually moist during the period the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F. They are moist in some part of the moisture control section for 35 to 50 days during the summer months, and are dry for 60 to 75 days during the 120 days following the winter solstice. Aridic ustic moisture regime.
Reaction: slightly acid to slightly alkaline
A1 horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
C horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam to loamy fine sand
The B2tb horizon occurs at depths of 40 to more than 60 inches. B2tb horizon is dominated by montmorillonitic clay mineralogy.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Alice (NE),
Blanche (NE),
Busher (NE),
Chappell (NE),
Creighton (WY),
Jayem (WY),
Lexsworth (NE),
Phiferson (WY) and
Stapleton (CO) soils. These soils are in LRR-E and LRR-G and are more moist in
May and June.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Caval soils are on undulating to rolling slopes of upland valleys and mesas at elevations of 5,600 to 7,850 feet. Slopes range from 2 to 15 percent. These soils formed in deposits of windblown fine sandy loam from sandstone. The mean annual air temperature is 45 degrees to 51 degrees F., and the mean summer temperature is 68 degrees to 72 degrees F. The average annual precipitation is 14 to 17 inches. The frost-free period is 100 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Mespun and
Spenlo soils. Mespun soils have sandy control sections. Spenlo soils have argillic horizons and lack mollic epipedons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow runoff; moderately rapid to moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for nonirrigated wheat and rangeland. Natural vegetation is big sagebrush, Gambel oak, Indian ricegrass and annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Utah. The series is inextensive. MLRA 35.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, Utah, 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from 0 to 9 inches (A horizon)
Particle size control section - The zone from 0 to 40 inches (A1, A2, A3 and C1 horizon).
Classification changed to an Aridic subgroup in 2006. This change was made to be consistent with the moisture regime.
Updates and revisions for the correlation of Kane County (UT642), July 2017, CEM
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Twelve Edition, 2014.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.