LOCATION CELESTE COEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Celeste very stony loam - grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A11--0 to 4 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very stony loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly plastic; 50 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
A12--4 to 14 inches; reddish gray (5YR 5/2) loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure that parts to moderate fine granules; slightly hard, very friable, slightly plastic; primary peds are hard; 50 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 18 inches thick)
R--14 inches; hard rhyolite bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Rio Grande County, Colorado; S 1/2 of Sec. 26, T. 38 N., R. 6 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mean annual soil temperature is 43 degrees F, and mean summer soil temperature is 62 degrees F. Depth to the lithic contact ranges from 10 to 20 inches. The control section averages 18 to 35 percent clay and 35 to 75 percent rock fragments. It is uniform with only minor discontinuous stratification. The soils range from slightly acid to mildly alkaline. Hue ranges from 5YR through 10R.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Castner, Cathedral, Comodore, Firo, and Paunsaugunt series. Castner soils have less than 18 percent clay in the control section. Cathedral, Comodore, and Firo soils have 7.5YR or yellower hue throughout. Paunsaugunt soils are calcareous throughout.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on moderate to steeply sloping upland hills and ridges or mountainsides. Slope gradients typically range from about 4 to 40 percent. The soils formed in stony, medium textured, noncalcareous parent sediments weathered residually or only locally transported from beds of rhyolite. At the type location, the average annual precipitation is 12 inches with peak periods of precipitation in the spring and early summer months. Mean annual temperature is 48 degrees F, mean summer temperature is 63 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Cathedral and Comodore soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to somewhat excessively drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used primarily as rangeland and have limited use for recreation or forestry. Principal native plants are western wheatgrass, blue grama, mountain muhly, junegrass, currant, juniper, and pinyon.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Colorado. This series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rio Grande, Colorado, 1972.
REMARKS: Last updated by the state 7/72.