LOCATION CUSTER WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic, ortstein Typic Endoaquods
TYPICAL PEDON: Custer fine sandy loam - pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and medium roots; common fine tubular pores; medium acid (pH 5.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick)
B21ircm--9 to 16 inches; 60 percent dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4 and 3/3) and dark brown (10YR 3/3) ortstein concretions ranging from 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter, yellowish red (5YR 5/8 and 5/6) dry and 40 percent olive (5Y 5/3) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) loamy fine sand, pale olive (5Y 6/3) and light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; massive; slightly hard matrix and extremely hard ortstein; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear irregular boundary. (6 to 13 inches thick)
B22ir--16 to 35 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) and olive (5Y 5/3) medium sand, light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) dry, with approximately 20 percent dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) and dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) ortstein concretions ranging from 1/8 to 2 inches in diameter and common fine and medium distinct reddish brown (5YR 3/4) and dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) mottles, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6 and 5/4) dry; slightly hard matrix and extremely hard ortstein, very friable matrix and very firm ortstein; few fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 18 inches thick)
C1g--35 to 49 inches; gray (N 5/) fine and medium sand, olive gray and light olive gray (5Y 5/2 and 6/2) dry; common fine faint grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) mottles; single grained; loose; many very fine interstitial pores; medium acid (pH 5.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
IIC2g--49 to 60 inches; mottled dark gray (5Y 4/1) and dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly coarse sand, gray (5Y 6/1), light olive gray (5Y 6/2) and light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) dry; single grained; loose; many very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent pebbles 2mm to 3/4 inch in diameter; medium acid (pH 5.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Snohomish County, Washington; 2,250 feet west and 1,500 feet north of the southeast corner of section 5, T. 30 N., R. 5 E. RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mean annual soil temperature is estimated to range from 48 degrees to 52 degrees F. The control section averages 0 to 15 percent rock fragments.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3 moist, 3 through 6 dry, and chroma of 1 through 3 dry and moist. Some pedons have a loamy sand or fine sandy loam A2 horizon 1/2 to 2 inches thick.
The B2 horizon has hue of 5Y, 2.5Y, or 10YR in the matrix and 7.5YR or 5YR in the ortstein concretions and mottles, value of 3 through 5 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 3 through 6 dry and moist. It is loamy fine sand to sand. This horizon has 50 to 80 percent ortstein as rounded concretions, irregularly shaped accretions, and nearly continuous bands of slag-like, irregularly shaped indurated plates.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5 moist, 5 through 7 dry, and chroma of 0 through 4 moist and dry. It ranges from coarse sand to fine sand and gravelly equivalents of each.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Blacklock series. Blacklock soils have a 6- to 12-inch thick cemented horizon and are loam or fine sandy loam above the cemented horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Custer soils are in basins on glacial outwash plains. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. Elevations are near sea level to 150 feet. Mean annual precipitation is 32 to 50 inches, most of which falls as rain during the winter but each of the summer months has at least 1 inch of rainfall. The average January temperature is about 38 degrees F., average July temperature is about 64 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F. The frost-free season is 150 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Indianola and Norma soils. Indianola and Norma soils lack a spodic horizon. Also, Norma soils are coarse-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; slow runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Where drained, these soils are used for row crops and pasture. Native vegetation was sedges, western redcedar, and western hemlock.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Puget Sound Basin of Washington. Series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eastern Puget Sound Basin, Washington Reconnaissance, 1909.
REMARKS: Classification only changed 4/94 because of recent amendments to Soil Taxonomy.