LOCATION CRIMS OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic, mesic Terric Haplohemists
TYPICAL PEDON: Crims silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silt loam, gray (10YR 5/1) dry; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
20e1--9 to 20 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken, rubbed and pressed, mucky peat, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; about 40 percent fibers, 20 percent rubbed; common fine roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); gradual smooth boundary. (Thickness is variable.)
20e2--20 to 40 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) broken, rubbed and pressed, mucky peat, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry; about 80 percent fibers, 20 percent rubbed; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); gradual smooth boundary. (Oe horizon is 16 to 35 inches thick.)
3Cg--40 to 60 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; massive; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; very strongly acid (pH 4.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Columbia County, Oregon; about 3 miles northeast of Clatskanie; 400 feet north and 165 feet west of the southeast corner, sec. 28, T. 8 N., R. 4 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: These soils are saturated with water throughout the year and are subject to fresh water overflow during spring floods unless diked and artificially drained. The mean annual soil temperature is 53 to 55 degrees F. The depth to the mineral substratum is 16 to 40 inches. The organic material is decomposed grasses, sedges and rushes; woody fragments are in the subsurface tier. The organic material and the mineral substratum are extremely acid or very strongly acid.
The surface tier has value of 1 or 2 moist. Fiber content ranges from 10 to 50 percent unrubbed and 0 to 20 percent rubbed. Typically a surface mantle of mineral soil material 6 to 12 inches thick overlies the organic soil material. Some pedons have mottles with hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3 moist and chroma of 4 to 6 moist.
The subsurface tier has fiber content of 40 to 90 percent unrubbed and 20 to 35 percent rubbed.
The 3Cg has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y but some pedons range to 10YR or 5G, value is 3 to 5 moist and chroma of 1 or 2. It is silt loam or silty clay loam with 10 to 30 percent clay. Some pedons have mottles with hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this family; the Bergsvik, Locoda and Wauna series are similar. The Bergsvik soil is sandy or sandy-skeletal and has an isomesic soil temperature regime. The Locoda and Wauna soils are fine-silty and lack the organic material.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Crims soils are in concave positions on flood plains. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. Elevations range from 0 to 20 feet. The soils formed in organic material from herbaceous plants overlying silty alluvium. The climate is characterized by warm moist summers and cool wet winters. The mean annual precipitation is 50 to 80 inches. The mean July temperature is 62 to 68 degrees F; mean January temperature is 36 to 40 degrees F; and mean annual temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. The frost-free period is 165 to 210 days. The soils are on the Horseshoe geomorphic surface.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Pilchuck and the competing Locoda and Wauna soils. Pilchuck soils are sandy mineral soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; ponded; permeability is moderate in the organic layers and moderately slow in the underlying mineral material.
USE AND VEGETATION: Where diked and drained, the soils are used for improved pasture and truck crops. Native vegetation is rushes, sedges, reeds and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Oregon along the Columbia River. The soil is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Columbia County, Oregon, 1983.