LOCATION CRACKERJACK CA
Established Series
REV: LJL/PBF/ET
04/2015
CRACKERJACK SERIES
The Crackerjack series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium on fan remnants and ballenas. Slope ranges from 2 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 5 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 66 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Cambidic Haplodurids
TYPICAL PEDON: On Tenwell-Crackerjack association, 2 to 15 percent slopes at an elevation of about 3,325 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered by approximately 80 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles.
A1 -- 0 to 1 inch; pale brown (10YR 6/3), extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine interstitial, and few fine vesicular pores; strongly effervescent; 70 percent gravel and 3 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); clear wavy boundary.
A2 -- 1 to 7 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3), gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine, fine, and medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; strongly effervescent; 25 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizon is 1 to 8 inches.)
Bkq -- 7 to 13 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), gravelly loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive parting to weak coarse subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; few very fine, and common fine and medium roots; common fine interstitial pores; 10 percent durinodes as broken duripan fragments; violently effervescent; 25 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bkqm -- 13 to 16 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/3), moderately cemented duripan with broken, discontinuous laminar cap 2 mm thick, very pale brown (10YR 7/4) moist; very hard, very firm, brittle; few fine and medium roots in fractures; gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 24 inches thick)
Ckq1 -- 16 to 31 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3), very cobbly loamy sand, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; moderately hard to very hard, friable to very firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and medium roots widely spaced; 25 percent durinodes as multiple broken layers, moderately to strongly cemented; 10 percent carbonates as bands associated with durinodes; slightly effervescent; 25 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.3); gradual wavy boundary.
Ckq2 -- 31 to 65 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/4), very gravelly loamy sand, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 10 percent durinodes as multiple broken layers, moderately to strongly cemented; 5 percent carbonates as bands associated with durinodes; strongly effervescent; 40 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.3).
TYPE LOCATION: San Bernardino County, California; about 7.75 miles north and 2.5 miles west of the Fort Irwin cantonment, T. 15 N., R. 2 E., in an unsectionalized area; 35 degrees, 22 minutes, 31 seconds north latitude, and 116 degrees, 43 minutes, 48 seconds west longitude; West of Drinkwater Lake 7.5 minute quadrangle; UTM 11S, 0524500e 3914478n (DTM:NAS-C).
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture control section - usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October following convection storms. The soils have a Typic-Aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 63 to 72 degrees F.
Surface rock fragments: 20 to 85 percent gravel, 0 to 25 percent cobbles, and 0 to 3 percent stones.
Control section -
Rock fragments: 25 to 35 percent, predominantly gravel
Clay content: ranges from 8 to 15 percent
Depth to duripan: 10 to 14 inches
Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent
Reaction: slightly or moderately alkaline
A horizon
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture of the fine earth: sandy loam or loam
Clay content: 8 to 15 percent
Rock fragments: 65 to 85 percent in the upper part and 20
to 35 percent in the lower part; with 10 to 70 percent
gravel, 1 to 25 percent cobbles, and 0 to 2 percent
stones
Consistence: soft or slightly hard
Effervescence: slight to violent
Bkq horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry
Texture of the fine earth: sandy loam or loam
Clay content: 10 to 15 percent
Rock fragments: 25 to 35 percent; with 25 to 35 percent
gravel, and 0 to 2 percent cobbles
Durinodes: 5 to 40 percent
Bkqm horizon
Value: 7 or 8 moist
Chroma: 1 to 3 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Consistence: hard or very hard, firm or very firm
Cementation: moderately or strongly cemented
Ckq horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Clay content: 2 to 8 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent; with 25 to 45 percent
gravel, and 10 to 20 percent cobbles
Durinodes: 10 to 45 percent
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Lewdlac (NV) series. Lewdlac soils have less than 10 percent clay and fewer than 25 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. In addition, there are fewer rock fragments in the A horizon, and the texture in the lower part of the series control section is higher in clay and lower in sand content.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Crackerjack soils are on fan remnants and ballenas. Slopes are 2 to 15 percent. These soils formed in mixed alluvium. Elevations are 1,800 to 3,700 feet. The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 3 to 7 inches; mean annual air temperature is 61 to 70 degrees F., and the frost-free season is 240 to 340 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Dime,
Eastrange,
Fortirwin,
Tenwell, and
Yermo soils. Dime and Eastrange soils are on similar landscape positions but do not have a duripan. In addition, they have a calcic horizon and loamy-skeletal and sandy-skeletal particle-size control sections, respectively. Fortirwin soils are on broad fan remnants of predominantly igneous alluvium and have an argillic horizon and an indurated duripan. Tenwell soils are on remnants on lower slopes of ballenas and have fine-loamy particle-size control sections and a duripan below 20 inches. Yermo soils are on alluvial fans and have a loamy-skeletal particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to very high runoff; moderate permeability above the duripan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Crackerjack soils are used for military exercises and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly creosotebush, white bursage, range ratany and desert needlegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mojave Desert of southeastern California. MLRA 30. These soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: San Bernardino County, California, Fort Irwin Soil Survey Area, 1997. The name is from a historic mining town which was located on Fort Irwin National Training Center.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the profile are:
1. Ochric epipedon -- 0 to 7 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
2. Duripan -- 13 to 16 inches (Bkqm horizon).
3. Particle size control section -- 0 to 13 inches (A1, A2,
and Bkq horizons).
Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 4/2015. The last revision to the series was 5/2000. ET
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.