LOCATION CROTONCANYON UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Crotoncanyon gravelly clay loam, 16 percent slope at an elevation of 4591 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered by 30 percent angular gravel.
A--0 to 2 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly clay loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium platy structure parting to moderate fine granular structure; moderately hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated throughout; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Bk--2 to 11 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly clay loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine, and fine roots; common very fine interstitial pores; 50 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated throughout; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 19 inches thick)
R--11+ inches; Straight Cliffs Formation sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Kane County, Utah; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Soil Survey; Nipple Butte USGS quad; lat. 37 degrees 9 minutes 57.4 seconds N. and long. 111 degrees 40 minutes 1.8 seconds W NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Soil moisture - dry in all parts above a depth of 24 inches for 75 to 80 percent of the time the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F. The soil moisture regime is Typic aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 54 to 59 degrees F
Depth to restrictive feature: 10 to 20 inches to bedrock (lithic)
Depth to secondary carbonates: 1 to 14 inches
Particle-size control section (weighted average)-
Clay content: 27 to 40 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 75 percent angular and subangular gravel, cobble, and channers sized Cretaceous aged Straight Cliffs formation sandstone; very and extremely gravelly modifiers dominate the series concept.
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry, or moist
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry, or moist
Texture: extremely gravelly clay loam, very gravelly clay loam, very cobbly loam and extremely cobbly loam
Clay content: averages 27 to 40 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 75 percent angular and subangular gravel, cobble, and channers
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 30 percent
COMPETING SERIES: They are the competing
Hoovers (CO) and
Rochpah (NV) series.
Hoovers and Rockpah soils have mean annual soil temperature that range from 51 to 53 degrees F,.
Rochpah soils also contain 5 to 18 percent clay in the particle size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: colluvium and residuum derived from Cretaceous aged Sandstone
Landform: hillslopes on structural benches
Slopes: 15 to 50 percent
Elevation: 4000 to 5200 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 52 to 57 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 6 to 9 inches
Frost-free period: 160 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dient soils. Dient soils are deep and do not have a calcic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium to very high runoff, moderate slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for rangeland, wildlife habitat and recreation. Present vegetation includes shadscale, galleta, Indian ricegrass, and Nevada mormontea. This soil has been correlated to Desert Shallow Loam (Shadscale) 035XY122UT ecological site at the type location in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central, Utah; MLRA 35; these soils are of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kane County, Utah, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument soil survey area, 2004. The series is named after Croton canyon.
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 2 inches. (A horizon)
Particle-size control section: The zone from 0 to 11 inches. (A and Bk horizons)
The assignment of the cation-exchange activity class is inferred from lab data from similar soils in the surrounding area.
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Ninth Edition, 2003.