LOCATION CATHEDRAL               CO+UT WY

Established Series
Rev. AJC/LC/TWH
05/2012

CATHEDRAL SERIES

The Cathedral series consists of very shallow or shallow, well drained or somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in slope alluvium and colluvium from granite, monzonite, schist, or gneiss. These soils are on mountain slopes and hills with slopes of 2 to 100 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 17 inches, and the mean annual temperature is about 45 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, micaceous, frigid Lithic Haplustolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Cathedral very stony sandy loam - grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 3 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very stony sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist, weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; 35 to 50 percent angular gravel and cobble; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)

Bw--3 to 11 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very gravelly sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist, weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky; 35 to 50 percent angular gravel and cobble; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 15 inches thick)

R--11 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/4) hard granite, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) moist.

TYPE LOCATION: Jefferson County, Colorado; about 3 miles south of Golden; 2,275 feet north and 1,975 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 16, T. 4 S., R. 70 W.; Morrison USGS quad.; lat. 39 degrees 42 minutes 9 seconds N. and long. 105 degrees 13 minutes 43 seconds W., NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is moist in spring, dry in early summer, and intermittently moist in late summer and fall; ustic moisture regime, typic subclass.
Mean annual soil temperature: 41 to 47 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature: 59 to 65 degrees F.
Thickness of mollic epipedon: 7 to 19 inches
Base saturation: 60 to 100 percent
Depth to the lithic contact: 8 to 20 inches
Shape of sand: A large percentage of the sand fraction is coarse and very coarse angular sand which has a large proportion of flat bearing surfaces between sand grains.

Particle-size control section:
Mica content: 45 to 70 percent (by grain count)
Clay content: 5 to 18 percent
Silt content: 5 to 40 percent
Sand content: 50 to 82 percent, more than 35 percent fine or coarser sand.
Rock fragment content: 35 to 85 percent; dominantly gravel and cobble; 5 percent or less stones.

A horizon
Hue: of 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1 through 3, dry or moist
Texture: very stony sandy loam, very gravelly sandy loam, gravelly sandy loam, gravelly coarse sandy loam
Reaction: moderately acid to slightly alkaline

Bw horizon (an AC horizon in some pedons)
Hue: of 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 to 4 moist
Chroma: 1 through 3, dry or moist
Texture: sandy loam and coarse sandy loam, with very gravelly and extremely gravelly modifiers
Rock fragment content: 35 to 80 percent, mainly gravel
Reaction: moderately acid to slightly alkaline

C horizon (present in some pedons)
Hue: of 7.5YR to 2.5Y
Reaction: moderately acid to slightly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family. A soil in a similar family is the Ratake series. Ratake soils are shallow to a paralithic contact.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and colluvium from granite, monzonite, gneiss, or schist
Landform: mountain slopes, hills
Slope: 2 to 100 percent
Elevation: 6,200 to 9,850 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 38 to 50 degrees F
Mean summer temperature: 60 to 65 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 14 to 22 inches
wettest period: spring and summer months
Frost-free period: 50 to 125 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Curecanti, Ratake, Lininger, and Posant soils. Curecanti and Posant soils have argillic horizons. Also, Curecanti soils do not have bedrock above depth of 20 inches. Ratake soils have paralithic rather than lithic contacts at depths of 10 to 20 inches. Lininger soils are moderately deep and have argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well or somewhat excessively drained; low to very high runoff; rapid or moderately rapid permeability above the bedrock.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for grazing and for recreation. Potential native vegetation is mainly Arizona fescue, mountain muhly, and Parry's oatgrass. Widely spaced Rocky Mountain juniper and ponderosa pine are common.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. LRR E, MLRA 48A, 47. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gunnison County, Colorado, 1974. The name is from a small village in Gunnison County, near the original type location of this series.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Mollic epipedon - from 0 to 11 inches (A and Bw horizons)
Particle-size control section: The zone from 0 to 11 inches (A and Bw horizons)
Lithic contact - at 11 inches (top of the R layer)

The 1980 revision moved the type location from Gunnison County to Jefferson County (Golden Area).

The 12/99 revision changed the mineralogy class from mixed to paramicaceous. The assignment of paramicaceous mineralogy class is inferred from lab data from similar soils in the surrounding area and the high observable mica particles in the fine and medium sand fraction.

Soils correlated to this series that have mean annual precipitation of 14 to about 16 inches are now likely outside the current series concept. Soils with this low amount of precipitation would probably have an ustic regime bordering aridic. These soils would then be in the Aridic Lithic subgroup of Haplustolls, which was added to Soil Taxonomy in 2003. Prior to 2003 these drier soils were included in the Cathedral series.
Keys to Soil Taxonomy: Series classified according to Eleventh Edition, 2010.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.