LOCATION DELANEY CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy, glassy, nonacid, mesic Vitrandic Xeropsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Delaney sand - on a slope of 2 percent under bitterbrush, big sagebrush, manzanita and scattered juniper and a few ponderosa pine. Elevation is 2,880 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described March 18, 1968, the soil was moist to 38 inches and dry below).
A11--0 to 5 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; very weak fine granular structure that parts to single grained; soft, very friable; common fine and very fine, and many medium roots; few fine tubular and many interstitial pores; medium acid (ph 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
A12--5 to 9 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak thick platy structure, massive in some parts; soft, very friable; common fine and very fine, and many medium roots; few fine tubular and many fine interstitial pores; medium acid (ph 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 5 inches thick)
AC--9 to 13 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand, olive brown (2.5Y 3/4) moist; massive, parting to weak medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, very friable; common fine and many medium roots; few fine tubular and many fine interstitial pores; medium acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)
C1--13 to 23 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) sand, olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable; common fine and many medium roots; few fine tubular and many fine interstitial pores; medium acid (pH 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (9 to 11 inches thick)
C2--23 to 32 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable; few fine and common fine and common medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; medium acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 11 inches thick)
C3--32 to 41 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) sand, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable; few fine and common medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; medium acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)
C4--41 to 68 inches; white (10YR 8/2) sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grained; loose, soft; few fine and common medium roots; medium acid (pH 6.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Siskiyou County, California; about 1 mile east of Lake Shastina Dam or about 1/2 mile east of Big Springs Road in Shasta Valley; about 550 feet east and 10 feet north of the SW corner of sec. 30, T. 43 N., R. 44 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Delaney soils are 40 to 80 inches deep to hard bedrock or a strongly contrasting layer of alluvium.
The mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 57 degrees F. The soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F from February 10 to December 25 and exceeds 47 degrees F from March 25 to December 1. The soil is dry between the depths of 12 and 36 inches from mid-July to mid-October and are moist in some or all parts the rest of the year.
The soil is medium acid to neutral. It is assumed that the base saturation is greater than 60 percent in some part of the upper 10 to 30 inches. Sixty to 80 percent of the sands are coated with some volcanic glass. Below the A horizon, the soil is 80 to 95 percent sand and 5 to 15 percent silt.
The A horizon is grayish brown, brown, light brownish gray, pale brown, very pale brown or light gray (10YR 5/2, 5/3, 6/2, 6/3, 7/2, 7/3; 2.5Y 5/2, 6/2, 7/2). Moist color ranges from very dark grayish brown and brown to dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/2, 3/3, 3/4, 4/2, 4/3; 2.5Y 3/2, 4/2). Organic carbon ranges from 0.3 to 0.6 percent. It is sand, loamy sand, or sandy loam. Rock fragments make up about 5 to 35 percent and consist of 1 to 10 percent cobbles and stones and 5 to 30 percent gravel. Fragments are mostly rounded pumice but include hard volcanic rock.
The C horizon is light brownish gray, pale yellow or white (10YR 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4, 8/2, 8/3; 2.5Y 6/2, 6/4, 7/, 7/4, 8/2, 8/4). Moist color is very dark grayish brown or brown (10YR 3/2, 3/3, 4/2, 4/3, 5/2, 5/3; 2.5Y 3/2, 4/2, 4/4, 5/2). It is sandy or loamy sand. Rock fragments make up 5 to 35 percent and consist of 0 to 25 percent stones and cobbles and 5 to 30 percent gravel. In some pedons rock fragments make up to 60 percent at depths below 40 inches. Sands grains are multicolored making color difficult to determine.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Plutos series in the same family and the Avis, Deetz, Oosen, Quincy, and Shasta series in other families. Avis soils have an ashy skeletal control section, a frigid soil temperature regime and base saturation of less than 60 percent. Deetz soils have base saturation of less than 60 percent at depths of 10 to 30 inches and have 70 to 85 sand and 15 to 30 percent silt. Oosen soils have base saturation of less than 60 percent and have frigid soil temperatures. Plutos soils are 30 to 40 inches deep to a lithic contact of basalt bedrock. Quincy soils have a torric moisture regime and mixed mineralogy. Shasta soils have an umbric epipedon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Delaney soils are on glacial outwash plains and fans. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in sandy glaciofluvial materials from volcanic rock and volcanic ash. Elevations are 2,800 to 4,500 feet. Stones are common in some areas and are 5 to 100 feet apart. Up to 0.1 percent of the area may be covered with stones. The climate is continental and subhumid with warm dry summers and cold moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 10 to 16 inches. Snowfall is 18 to 24 inches. Mean January temperature is 30 to 34 degrees F; mean July temperature is 65 to 69 degrees F; mean annual temperature is 46 to 51 degrees F. Frost-free season is 100 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Louie and competing Avis, Deetz, Oosen, Plutos and Shasta soils. Louie soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to a duripan and have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; slow runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as rangeland, but some areas are irrigated and cropped. Principal crops are pasture, potatoes, onions or field corn. Native vegetation consists of bitterbrush, rabbitbrush, sagebrush, manzanita, wild currant, wild gooseberry, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, prairie june grass, western juniper and other perennial and annual forbs and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Elevated valleys in Northern California. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Siskiyou County, Shasta Valley Area, California, 1919.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Reference samples were analyzed by the Riverside Laboratory. Petrographic microscopic examination indicates there is enough volcanic glass and pyroclastic materials to qualify as ashy mineralogy. Written communication by K.W. Flach. Soil Sample No. S68-Calif. 47-11.
REMARKS:
Last revised by the state on 10/78.