LOCATION CRAGOLA WY+UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, calcareous, mesic, shallow Ustic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Cragola very gravelly loam, grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 40 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; calcium carbonate disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
AB--4 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, sticky and slightly plastic; 40 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; calcium carbonate disseminated: moderately alkaline (pH 8.3); gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
Bk--8 to 16 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly clay loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; hard, very friable, sticky and slightly plastic; 40 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; calcium carbonate disseminated and as soft masses and coatings on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
Cr--16 to 20 inches; calcareous siltstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Johnson County, Wyoming; near the center of Sec. 3, T45N, R82W. Schlicht Draw Quadrangle. 43 degrees 53 minutes 54 seconds north latitude and 106 degrees 41 minutes 48 seconds west longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Typically, these soils are calcareous throughout but are noncalcareous in the upper 1 or 2 inches in some pedons. Depth to the paralithic contact ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Gravel is 35 to 60 percent. Cobbles are 0 to 20 percent. The control section is typically very gravelly loam or clay loam. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 45 degrees to 50 degrees F.
The A horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. Reaction is moderately or strongly alkaline.
The AB horizon, when present, has properties similar to the A horizon with the exception of having subangular blocky structure.
The Bk or C horizon has hue of 5Y through 7.5YR, value of 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist, and chroma of 3 or 4. It has 1 to 6 percent calcium carbonate equivalent.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Imlay series. Imlay soils have siltstone and shale coarse fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Cragola soils are on Structural benches, hills, and ridges. Slope gradients range from 0 to 40 percent. Elevation is 5,000 to 5,700 feet. At the type location the mean annual temperature is 49 degrees F. The mean summer temperature is 66 degrees F. Average annual precipitation is 12 inches with maximum periods of precipitation in the spring. The frost-free season is 105 to 110 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Nihill and Shingle soils. Nihill soils are very deep. Shingle soils have less than 15 percent rock fragments in the control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to somewhat excessively drained; high runoff; moderate permeability above the bedrock.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally as native pastureland. Principal native plants are sagebrush, prairie junegrass, western wheatgrass, needleandthread grass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central and eastern Wyoming. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Southern Johnson County Area, Wyoming, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 4 inches (A)
Paralithic contact - 16 inches (Cr)
MLRR- G
SIRs'- WY0168, WY1388