LOCATION CUBERANT           UT
Established Series
Rev. MEO/AJE/TWH
01/2008

CUBERANT SERIES


The Cuberant series consists of moderately deep, excessively drained soils that formed in material weathered from quartzite and sandstone. Cuberant soils are on mountain slopes and ridges and have slopes of 5 to 70 percent. The average annual precipitation is about 35 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 38 degrees F. The mean summer temperature is about 55 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Cuberant very flaggy silt loam, woodland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 20 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) very flaggy silt loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine, medium and coarse roots; 40 percent gravel, cobbles and flagstone fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.1); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

Bw--20 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) extremely flaggy sandy loam, pink (7.5YR 7/4) dry; very weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; 90 percent gravel, cobbly and flaggy fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 30 inches thick)

R--36 inches; quartzite.

TYPE LOCATION: Summit County, Utah; on the ridge extending north from Shingle Mill Flat; SE1/4 SE1/4 section 10, T.1S., R.7E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Some pedons have a thin organic layer at the surface. The ochric epipedon is 10 to 20 inches thick. Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. The mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches is 36 to 42 degrees F., and the mean summer soil temperature is 54 to 58 degrees F. Rock fragments are mainly well graded gravel, cobbles and flagstones and range from 25 to 50 percent in the A horizon, and 70 to 90 percent in the Bw horizon. Some interstices are not filled with fines in the Bw horizon.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 6 moist, 5 through 7 dry, and chroma of 2 or 3. It ranges from flaggy or very flaggy silt loam to gravelly or cobbly silt loam, and is slightly to strongly acid.

The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 through 6 moist, 6 or 7 dry, and chroma of 3 or 4. It is extremely flaggy or extremely cobbly fine sandy loam or silt loam, and is slightly to moderately acid.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Enentah, Firada, Garlet, Gromes, Storm, Targhee, and Telay series.
Enentah, Garlet, Gromes, Storm, and Telay soils are deeper than 40 inches to a lithic contact.
Firada soils have horizons of secondary carbonate accumulation.
Targhee soils have a lithologic discontinuity with extremely cobbly sand.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils occur on broad ridge tops, spur ridges and mountain slopes. Slopes range from 5 to 70 percent, but are dominantly 15 to 55 percent. Elevations range from 8,500 to 10,000 feet. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium weathered from quartzite and sandstone. The mean annual temperature is 35 to 41 degrees F., and the mean summer temperature is 54 to 58 degrees F. The average annual precipitation is 35 to 40 inches, falling mostly as snow. The frost free season is 20 to 40 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Abes, Beardall, and Ledgefork soils. Abes soils have mollic epipedon, and have a lithic contact at depth of less than 20 inches. Beardall soils have an argillic horizon, and have less than 35 percent rock fragments. Ledgefork soils have a mollic epipedon and are more than 40 inches deep to bedrock.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; slow runoff; very rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used principally foe forest, watershed and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is dominantly subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, with some aspen and huckleberry, and sedges as understory.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Utah. Western Uinta Mountains. These soils are moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Summit County, Utah (Kamas Forest Area), 1976.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon: from 0 to 20 inches (A horizon)
Cambic horizon: from 20 to 36 inches (Bw horizon)
Lithic contact: at 36 inches (R layer)
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 36 inches (part of the A, and the Bw horizon)


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.