LOCATION CONE CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Medial-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Haploxerands
TYPICAL PEDON: Cone very gravelly loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry conditions unless otherwise noted).
O1--2 to 0 inches; loose shrub litter, 1/2 to 2 inches thick.
A1--0 to 2 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky; few very fine roots; very porous; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. 2 to 6 inches thick)
B2--2 to 8 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very gravelly loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable; abundant very fine and fine roots; very porous; slightly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
C1--8 to 48 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) very gravelly loam, dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable; plentiful very fine and fine roots; porous; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (30 to 60 inches thick)
C2--48 + inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravel (cinders), dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; slightly weathered; loose dry and moist; very small amount of soil present in interstices.
TYPE LOCATION: Tehama County, California. About 1 mile south of Paynes Creek, 1/4 mile south of NE corner sec. 36, T. 28 N., R. 1 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
The A horizons range in color from dark grayish brown, dark brown and dark yellowish brown to yellowish brown dry (10YR and from very dark grayish brown to dark yellowish brown moist; in texture from slightly gravelly loam to very gravelly loam and in reaction from medium acid to neutral.
The B2 horizons range in color from dark yellowish brown and yellowish brown to dark brown (7.5YR, 5YR) when moist; in texture from gravelly loam to very gravelly loam and in reaction from slightly acid to neutral.
C horizons are dark yellowish brown to brownish yellow very gravelly loam to gravelly heavy loam and are medium acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These include the Forward, Jiggs, Kidd, and Laniger series. The Forward soils have light brownish gray medium acid A horizons, very pale brown medium acid B2 horizons and pale yellow strongly acid C horizons over rhyolitic tuff. The Jiggs soils have grayish brown medium acid gravelly sandy loam A horizons and light gray strongly acid B2 horizons. The Kidd soils have strongly acid B2 horizons and rhyolitic tuff at 15 inches depth. The Laniger soils are nongravelly and have mean annual temperatures greater than 59 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Cone soils occur on gently sloping to steep slopes under shrub-conifer vegetation. They are underlain by gravel-size deposits of volcanic explosion debris. Elevations range from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. The climate is humid mesothermal with mean annual rainfall of 35 to 50 inches, with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual temperature is about 54 degrees F, average January temperature about 38 degrees F, and average July temperature about 70 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Cone soils occur in the same general area as the Aiken, Guenoc, Inskip, Supan and Toomes soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to excessively drained; very slow to rapid runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for range, pasture or limited timber production. Natural vegetation is ponderosa pine, black oak, ceanothus, redbud, annual and perennial grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Around cinder cones of lower elevations in the Cascade Range of California. The soils are inextensive (about 10,000 acres have been mapped).
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soil survey of Tehama County, California, 1962. Name from Cone Ranch.
REMARKS: The Cone series was formerly classified in the Regosol group. The current classification is based on an ochric epipedon, a cambic horizon, more than 60 percent coarse pyroclastic materials and a mean annual temperature between 47 and 69 degrees F.
Last revised by the state on 7/65.