LOCATION CLERF                   WA

Established Series
Rev. LTD/JTK/RJE/KWH
09/2019

CLERF SERIES

Landscape-plateaus, hills, canyonlands
Landform-structural benches, hillslopes, canyons
Slope--3 to 70 percent
Parent material--residuum and colluvium derived from basalt with additions of loess
Mean annual precipitation--about 280 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about 9 degrees C
Depth class--moderately deep
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--aridic
Soil temperature regime--mesic
Soil moisture subclass--xeric

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, mesic Aridic Palexerolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Clerf very cobbly clay loam under grasses and sagebrush, on a 20-percent, southeast-facing slope at an elevation of 750 m (The soil was moist when described.)

A--0 to 23 cm; very cobbly clay loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine irregular pores; 15 percent gravel and 35 percent surface cobbles; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt wavy boundary

2Bt1--23 to 30 cm; very cobbly clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) dry, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; few very fine irregular pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and common distinct clay films on rock fragments; 20 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 7.2); clear wavy boundary

2Bt2--30 to 61 cm; very cobbly clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) dry, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; strong coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; continuous prominent clay films on faces of peds and many prominent clay films on rock fragments; 20 percent gravel and 30 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 7.2)

3R--61 cm; fractured basalt

TYPE LOCATION: Kittitas County, Washington, about 6.5 km southeast of Kittitas; about 550 m north and 60 m west of the southeast corner of section 28, T. 17 N., R. 20 E.; East Kittitas U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle; latitude 46 degrees, 55 minutes, 55 seconds north and longitude 120 degrees, 19 minutes, 33 seconds west

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--8 to 12 degrees C
Particle-size control section--averages 47 to 60 percent clay in fine-earth fraction and 40 to 65 percent rock fragments, by volume
Depth to lithic contact--50 to 100 cm
Upper part of argillic horizon--clayey; increase of at least 15 percent clay (absolute) within a vertical distance of 3 cm
Moisture control section--dry more than half the time when the soil temperature at a depth of 50 cm is higher than 4 degrees C
Assumed base saturation throughout profile--more than 75 percent

A thin cap (3 to 13 mm) of 1980 Mount St. Helens volcanic ash is in some pedons.

A horizon
Hue--10YR, 7.5YR
Value--4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma--2 or 3 dry or moist
Thickness--8 to 36 cm

A very cobbly or very gravelly clay loam AB horizon is in some pedons.

2Bt horizon
Hue--10YR, 7.5YR
Value--3 to 5 moist
Chroma--3 or 4 dry or moist
Texture--very gravelly loam, very cobbly loam, extremely gravelly loam, extremely cobbly clay, extremely cobbly clay loam
Structure--subangular blocky, prismatic
Reaction--6.6 to 7.8
Combined thickness--30 to 71 cm

COMPETING SERIES:
Antoken--no lithic contact within a depth of 150 cm

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation--520 to 880 m
Climate--semiarid; warm, dry summers; cold, moist winters
Mean annual precipitation--230 to 310 mm
Mean January air temperature--about -4 degrees C
Mean July air temperature--about 21 degrees C
Mean annual air temperature--9 to 10 degrees C
Frost-free season--130 to 170 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Bakeoven--on ridgetops; 10 to 25 cm (very shallow) to a lithic contact (basalt)
Cheviot--on hillslopes; loamy-skeletal particle-size class; no lithic contact within a depth of 150 cm
Grinrod--on hillslopes; loamy-skeletal particle-size class
Horseflat, Lickskillet--on hillslopes; loamy-skeletal particle-size class; 25 to 50 cm (shallow) to a lithic contact (basalt)
Ralock--fine-loamy particle-size class; no lithic contact within a depth of 150 cm
Vantage--on ridgetops; 25 to 50 cm (shallow) to a lithic contact (basalt)

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--well drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--moderately low

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--livestock grazing, wildlife habitat
Native vegetation--bluebunch wheatgrass, Wyoming big sagebrush, Sandberg bluegrass, arrowleaf balsamroot

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Kittitas County, Washington; MLRA 8; moderate extent

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Yakima Training Center, Kittitas County, Washington; 1994

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon
*Mollic epipedon--zone from the mineral soil surface to a depth of 23 cm
*Argillic horizon--zone from 23 to 61 cm; more than 15 percent clay increase from horizon above (absolute) and abrupt boundary
*Depth to lithic contact--61 cm

Clay mineralogy is based on laboratory data from the associated Vantage series.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.