LOCATION DAULTON CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Lithic Xerorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Daulton gravelly loam -- annual range. (Colors for dry condition unless otherwise noted).
A1--0 to 2 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine and few fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; few dark films on sandy grains and in pores; numerous chiastolites; slightly acid (pH 6.2) gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
B2--2 to 14 inches; dark grayish brown or dark brown (10YR 4/2, 4/3) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown or dark brown (10YR 3/2, 3/3) moist; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine and few fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; few thin clay films on sand grains and in pores; numerous chiastolites; slightly acid, (pH 6.20; abrupt irregular boundary. (7 to 10 inches thick)
R--14 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) dry, olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) moist; partially shattered hard slate with some soil material of neutral reaction in thin cracks of rock. Rock less shattered and more massive with increasing depth.
TYPE LOCATION: Madera County, California; on Buchanan Rd. 15 feet east of Rd., 3 miles north of junction of Buchanan Rd. and Ave. 26. Along the east boundary of NE 1/4 of sec. 4, T. 9 S., R. 18 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually moist but dry for 60 consecutive days. The soils have ochric epipedons, cambic horizons and a lithic contact at depths of less than 20 inches. The solum thickness and depth to bedrock is 11 to 20 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is more than 59 degrees F. Mineralogy of clay fraction is dominated by montmorillonite. The soils are usually gravelly throughout.
The Daulton soils have dark grayish brown gravelly loam slightly acid, A1 horizons and loamy dark grayish brown slightly acid B2 horizons overlying olive colored slates.
The color of the A1 horizon is dark grayish brown, gray, grayish brown or dark brown and texture is fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam or clay loam with or without gravels. There may be little color change from the surface soil to parent rock, but in places the B2 horizons are browner in color and slightly finer textured. Soil color appears to be a reflection, in part, of the dark colored parent slate which is graphitic in composition. Reaction is usually slightly less acid with depth. Soil depth is very variable within short distances. The amount of rock outcrop is also variable, ranging from less than 1 percent to areas of 25 to 30 percent of the surface being rock.
COMPETING SERIES: The Amargosa, Gaviota, Millsholm, and Temescal series are in the same family. Amargosa soils, formed in granite, are low in O.M. (less than 1 percent) and have sandy loam or coarse sandy loam A and B horizons. Gaviota soils are low in O.M. (less than 1 percent) and have fine sandy loam A and B horizons. Millsholm soils have pale brown to brown A and B horizons. Temescal soils, formed in latite porphyry, have clay fraction dominated by kaolinite. Similar soils are Exchequer, Pentz, Toomes, Amador, and Whiterock. Exchequer are yellowish red silt loam soils that rest abruptly on greenish, hard meta-andesitic schist at depths of 10 inches or less. Pentz soils have grayish brown to dark grayish brown slightly acid A horizons with pale brown to light brownish gray slightly acid or neutral AC horizons resting abruptly on gray weakly or moderately consolidated andesitic tuff. Toomes soils have brown, slightly acid, loam A horizons and brown heavy loam Bt horizons with bedrock at 12 inches. Amador soils have very pale brown, strongly acid loam A horizons resting abruptly on light yellowish brown consolidated rhyolitic tuff. Whiterock soils have light brownish gray strongly acid loam A horizons overlying metasedimentary bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Daulton soils occur on rolling to steep foothill areas. They are developed from metamorphosed fine grained dark colored slates of the Mariposa formation. Daulton soils occur at elevations of about 500 to 1,000 feet in a subhumid mesothermal climate having a mean annual rainfall of about 12 to 18 inches with hot, dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual temperature is about 60 to 65 degrees F, and the frost-free season is about 250 to 280 days. The soils are dry for at least 60 consecutive days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Amador, Hornitos and Whiterock soils. Hornitos soils have strongly acid pale brown surfaces over reddish yellow AC horizons on kaolinitic sandstone and conglomerates.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained to somewhat excessively drained; runoff is medium; permeability moderate to moderately rapid; not affected by seeps.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dominantly range pasture. Some of the flatter, deeper and less rocky areas have been used for dry farmed grain. Vegetation consists of annual grasses and forbs with some scattered oaks at higher elevations.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Along the western footslopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Madera Area, Madera County, 1910; name is from small village of Daulton, Madera County, California.
REMARKS: This soil was formerly classified as a Lithosal.
The activity class was added to the classification in February of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET
Last revised by the state on 7/68.