LOCATION DEEPWELL CA
Established Series
Rev. DV-TAC-ET-MAV-GAM
03/2017
DEEPWELL SERIES
The Deepwell series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained, soils on sand dunes on basin floors and lake terraces. These soils formed in windblown rhyolitic volcanic ash. They have slopes of 2 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 250 mm, much of it as snow, and the mean annual temperature is about 8.9 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy, glassy, nonacid, mesic Vitrandic Torripsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Deepwell sand - on a 3 percent northeast slope at 1,980 meters elevation under sparse rubber rabbitbrush and Indian ricegrass vegetation. Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described August 10, 1979, the soil was dry throughout.
C1--0 to 8 cm; light gray (10YR 7/1) ashy sand, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine interstitial pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick).
C2--8 to 152 cm; light gray (10YR 7/1) ashy sand, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Mono County, California. In Adobe Valley about 7 miles northwest of Benton and 1 mile northwest of Antelope Mountain; 20 feet southwest of dirt road on sand dune; 2,800 feet north and 1,100 feet east of the southwest corner of section 33, T. 1 N., R. 31 E.; USGS River Spring 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 54 minutes 11 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 34 minutes 17 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 37.9030556 latitude, -118.5713889 longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth of the soil is 152 cm or more. The ash content ranges from 60 to 100 percent by weight. The soil is usually dry from mid-May to mid-November, and is moist in some or all parts the rest of the time. The soil temperature is above 5 degrees C from April 1 to December 20, and is above 8 degrees C from April 15 to November 30. Summer and fall thunderstorms occur, but are sporadic and usually do not wet the control section. The mean annual soil temperature is 8.3 to 11.1 degrees C. The sand particles are poorly graded due to the eolian origin.
The C horizon color is 10YR 6/2, 7/1 or 7/3. Moist color is 10YR 4/2, 5/2 or 5/3. Textures are sand, fine sand or loamy fine sand. Base saturation is 90 to 100 percent. The soil reaction is neutral to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Brantel and
Buscones series. Brantel soils are mostly on alluvial fans and fan terraces, have sands of all size fractions and have pumice and obsidian fragments. Buscones soils are 50 to 100 cm deep over soft rhyolitic tuff.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Deepwell soils are on stabilized or semi-stabilized sand dunes on basin floors and lake terraces. They have formed in windblown rhyolitic volcanic ash. Slopes are 2 to 15 percent. The elevation range is 1,955 to 2,170 meters. The mean annual precipitation is 200 to 300 mm, much of it as snow, and the mean annual temperature is 7.2 to 10.0 degrees C. The mean January temperature is about -1 degree C; mean July temperature is about 19.4 degrees C. The frost-free season is 100 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Brantel and
Alamedawell soils. Alamedawell soils have loamy lacustrine sediments at depths of 50 to 100 cm. Brantel soils are mostly on alluvial fans and fan terraces, have sands of all size fractions, and have pumice and obsidian gravel.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Excessively drained; very slow runoff; rapid permeability; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is rubber rabbitbrush, hairy horsebrush, fourwing saltbush, little horsebrush, black greasewood, spiny hopsage, big sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, annual forbs, inland saltgrass, Douglass rabbitbrush, and perennial forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Mono Lake area in east-central California. The soils are of small extent. MLRA 26.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES PROPOSED: Mono County, California; Benton-Owens Valley Soil Survey.
SOURCE OF NAME: Deepwell series is named after Deep Wells Road.
REMARKS: Deepwell soils have an aridic moisture regime bordering on xeric. Cold soil temperatures in winter prevent their meeting all the xeric moisture regime requirements.
Taxonomic Class: Ashy, MESIC Xeric Torripsamments.
Major Diagnostic Horizons
1. Ochric epipedon
1.1 Color values do not meet mollic criteria (10YR 7/1,7/2,
7/3, 6/2).
1.2 No structure
Other Diagnostic Horizons or Soil Characteristics:
1. No diagnostic subhorizons because:
1.1 There are no clay films, no structures and the profile has sandy textures.
2. Ash content is assumed to be 60 to 100 percent based on grain count analyses by SCS Lincoln Lab on the associated Alamedawell soil.
3. Soil textural control section averages sand or fine sand (hydrometer analysis by SCS Lincoln Lab); no loamy or very gravelly lenses present.
4. Soil moisture regime is aridic bordering on xeric. The M.A.P. is 8 to 12 inches. This is extrapolated from weather data at Mono Lake, Benton and Bishop.
5. The temperature regime is mesic. M.A.S.T. is 8.3 to 11.1 degrees C. This is extrapolated from actual soil temperature transect data collected over the past years using 12 month averages and Rod Arkley's formula.
6. The soil is usually dry from mid-May to mid-November, and is moist in some or all parts the rest of the time. The soil temperature is above 5.0 degrees C. from April 1 to December 20, and is above 8.3 degrees C. from April 15 to November 30.
The particle-size control section is from 25 to 100 cm (part of the C2 horizon).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.