LOCATION DELACIT                 NV

Established Series
Rev. JVN/JBF/WED
06/2016

DELACIT SERIES

The Delacit series consists of shallow, moderately well drained soils that formed in alluvium mixed with spring deposited travertine. The Delacit soils are on beach plains. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Typic Natrargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Delacit gravelly sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soils surface is covered with 5 percent cobbles and 25 percent gravel

A1--0 to 3 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine vesicular and common very fine interstitial pores; 15 percent travertine gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 cm thick)

A2--3 to 8 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate thick platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine, fine and medium vesicular pores; 5 percent travertine gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

Btn--8 to 23 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/4) very gravelly clay loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) moist; weak fine prismatic structure parting to weak fine subangular blocky; soft, very friable, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; many moderately thick clay films lining pores and on faces of peds; 35 percent travertine gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 15 cm thick)

BC--23 to 38 cm; white (10YR 8/1) very gravelly loam, light gray (10YR 7/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine interstitial pores; 40 percent travertine gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); clear irregular boundary. (13 to 23 cm thick)

Cr--38 to 152 cm; white (10YR 8/1) cemented travertine with common lenses of sand or sandy loam, light gray (10YR 7/2) moist.

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; about 260 feet north and 1200 feet west of the southeast corner of section 11, T. 6 N., R.54 E.; USGS The Wall NE 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 23 minutes 12 seconds N and longitude 115 degrees 50 minutes 51 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.3867778latitude, -115.8641667 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall except for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to summer convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock: 36 to 50 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 24 to 35 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 45 percent travertine, mostly of gravel size.

A horizon
Value 6 or 7 dry
Chroma: 2 through 4

Btn horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Clay content: 27 to 35 percent.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 30

BC horizon
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 6 or 7 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 3.
Texture: Loam or clay loam.
Clay content: 18 to 30 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent mostly travertine gravel and a few cobbles.
Other features: The travertine is 75 to 150 cm thick and is very hard to extremely hard.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Delacit soils are on alluvial flats. These soils formed in mixed alluvium saturated with spring water high in dissolved carbonates. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Elevations are 1,405 to 1,525 meters. The climate is cool, arid with warm summers and cool, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 150 mm, mean annual temperature is 10 to 12 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 120 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Springwarm series. Springwarm soils are poorly drained, moderately deep to rock, and do not have a natric horizon.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained; slow to medium runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly black greasewood, shadscale, and saltgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central Nevada. MLRA 29. These soils are not extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County, Nevada, Northeast Part. 1993.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 8 cm. (A1 and A2 horizons).
Natric horizon - The zone from 8 to 23 cm (Btn horizon).
Paralithic contact- The contact at 38 cm (Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 8 to 38 cm (Btn and BC horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.