LOCATION CELLAR AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Lithic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Cellar very gravelly sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 1 inch; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine roots; few fine tubular and common fine interstitial pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
Bw--1 to 8 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; common fine tubular interstitial pores; few faint clay films lining pores and bridging mineral grains in lower part; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt irregular boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
2R--8 inches; granite; few faint yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay films and few fine roots in fractures; noneffervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona; 1,320 feet west of the southeast corner of section 20, T. 9 N., R. 7 W., near Merritt Pass. Latitude 34 degrees, 5 minutes, 59 seconds N., longitude 113 degrees, 0 minutes, 9 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.
Soil temperature - 57 to 72 degrees F.
Rock fragments - 35 to 75 percent, dominantly gravel but some pedons contain mostly cobble or stones
Clay content - 5 to 18 percent in the control section
Depth to bedrock - 4 to 20 inches
Reaction - slightly acid to moderately alkaline
Calcium carbonate - noneffervescent above the lithic contact or to a depth of more than 10 inches
A horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3, 4, or 5 dry, 3 through 6 moist
Organic matter: less than 1 percent
B or C horizons
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4, 5 or 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 3 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam
A thin Cr horizon is present in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Lajitas (TX) and Nipton (NV) series. Lajitas soils are poorly differentiated but appear to not have B or C horizons and weathered from aphanitic textured igneous rock. Nipton soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30), and are moist in some part of the soil moisture control section for less than 20 days cumulative between July and September.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cellar soils are on hills and mountains and have slopes of 2 to 70 percent. They formed in slope alluvium from granitic rock. Elevation is 1000 to 5300 feet. Mean annual precipitation is 7 to 12 inches. Mean annual air temperature is 57 to 70 degrees F. Frost-free period is 180 to 290 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cave, Continental, Eba, Greyeagle, House Mountain and Stagecoach soils. Cave and Greyeagle soils have an indurated horizon. Continental and Eba soils have argillic horizons. Stagecoach soils are very deep and have a calcic horizon. House Mountain soils are loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; medium to very high runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing. Vegetation is sideoats grama, black grama, bush muhly, Arizona cottontop, tanglehead, triangle bursage, threeawn, annual grasses, mesquite, catclaw, ocotillo, paloverde, white brittlebush, creosotebush and cactus.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern, South Central and North Central Arizona. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRAs 40 and 41. Cellar soils are extensive. Total extent is about 377,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Graham County, Arizona, Safford Area; 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 1 inch (A horizon)
Lithic contact - the boundary at 8 inches (2R horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
When the competing series section was updated in September 2001, questions were raised about the pedon description of this series. A field study of the type location is recommended to resolve the questions.
The type location of the typical pedon is the same pedon but a different location than the taxonomic unit description published in Yavapai County, Arizona, Western Part (AZ637).
Revised for the correlation of AZ661, 12/08, WWJ.