LOCATION CHINCHIN UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Calciargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Chinchin gravelly -- rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered by 70 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, and 5 percent stones.
A--0 to 4 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 5/4) gravelly loam, reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine and medium platy parting to moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine interstitial pores; 14 percent gravel, 4 percent cobbles, and 4 percent stones; moderately effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Btk--4 to 10 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; strong fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common distinct thin clay films on faces of peds; carbonates segregated in common fine soft masses; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 15 inches thick)
R--10 inches; Chinle shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Garfield County, Utah; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; south side of the Burr Trail; Pioneer Mesa Quadrangle; lat. 37 degrees 48 minutes 7.6 seconds N. and long. 111 degrees 11 minutes 59.1 seconds W.; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture regime: Ustic aridic. Driest during May and June
Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 52 degrees F.
Particle-size control section: 27 to 35 percent clay
Depth to lithic contact: 4 to 20 inches
Rock fragments on the surface: 35 to 75 percent, dominantly gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 10 to 30 percent throughout the profile
A horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Rock fragments: 0 to 30 percent, dominantly gravel
Btk horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam
Clay content: 27 to 35 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 30 percent, dominantly gravel
Reaction: moderately to strongly alkaline
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Berto (NM) series. Berto soils have a typic aridic soil moisture regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent Material: residuum and colluvium, derived from shale of the Chinle formation
Landform: hills and escarpments on structural benches
Elevation: 5,100 to 6,900 feet
Slope: 25 to 50 percent
Mean annual air temperature: 43 to 50 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 9 to 14 inches
Frost-free period: 120 to 160 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Tekapo soils. Tekapo soils do not have argillic horizons and have a paralithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to high runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is shadscale, roundleaf buffaloberry, Utah juniper, bottlebrush squirreltail, galleta, and Indian ricegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central Utah. The series is not extensive. MLRA 35.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Soil Survey Area, Garfield County, Utah 2004.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 4 inches (A horizon)
Calcic horizon - the zone from 4 to 10 inches (Btk horizon)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 4 to 10 inches (Btk horizon)
Lithic contact the boundary at 10 inches (R horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Updates and revisions for MLRA consistency, February 26, 2008, DWD.