LOCATION DEVOY                   NV+OR

Established Series
Rev. JVC/JBF
11/2016

DEVOY SERIES

The Devoy series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in colluvium and residuum derived from granitic rock. Devoy soils are on mountains and plateaus. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 330 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 7 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic Xeric Argicryolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Devoy very gravelly loam--woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface has class 2 stoniness.

A1--0 to 13 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine, and many very fine roots; many fine and very fine vesicular pores; 40 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.2); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 20 cm thick)

A2--13 to 30 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common coarse, many medium, many fine, and many very fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; 50 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 cm thick)

Bt1--30 to 46 cm; variegated light gray (10YR 7/1) and light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly clay loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and very fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; 55 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 20 cm thick)

Bt2--46 to 76 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; strong coarse angular blocky structure; very hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; very few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 55 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.3); abrupt wavy boundary. (25 to 38 cm thick)

R--76 cm; granitic rock (alaskite); illuvial clay is in fractures.

TYPE LOCATION: Eureka County, Nevada; west of Diamond Valley on Whistler Mountain about 650 feet east and 840 feet south of the northwest corner of section 2 T. 20 N., R. 52 E.; USGS Whistler Mountain 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 37 minutes 55 seconds N and longitude 116 degrees 05 minutes 9 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.6319444 latitude, -116.0850000 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soils moisture: Moist in the moisture control section during winter, spring, and early summer; dry during July through October in most years; xeric soil moisture regime that borders on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 7 to 8 degrees C.
Mean summer soil temperature: 14 to 15 degrees C.
Mollic epipedon thickness: 23 to 40 cm.
Depth to bedrock: 50 to 100 cm to a lithic contact.
Reaction: Slightly acid through slightly alkaline.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 35 to 60 percent;
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent, mainly gravel. Lithology of fragments is granitic rocks such as alaskite.

A horizons
Value: 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry.
Chroma: 1 through 3, dry or moist.
Organic matter content: 1 to 4 percent.
Consistence: Soft to slightly hard.
Other features: A/B, B/A, or thin weak E horizons occur in some pedons.

2Bt horizons
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Very gravelly clay loam, very gravelly clay, or very gravelly sandy clay.
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent.
Structure: Angular blocky or prismatic.
Other features: Some pedons have texture of very cobbly clay loam or very cobbly clay; Thin zones of carbonate accumulation occur below 90 cm and overlie bedrock in some pedons.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Spinlin series. Spinlin soils are moderately deep to paralithic contacts.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Devoy soils are on mountains and plateaus. These soils formed in colluvium and residuum derived from granite (alaskite rocks. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent. Elevations are 1,920 to 2,440 meters. The climate is semiarid with cold, moist winters and cool, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 300 to 400 mm which comes mostly as snow. The mean annual temperature is 4.4 to 8 degrees C. The frost-free period is 30 to 80 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Blizzard, Handy, and Labshaft soils. Blizzard soils are clayey and shallow to lithic contacts. Handy soils are fine, very deep, have ochric epipedons, and frigid temperature regime. Labshaft soils are shallow to lithic contacts and do not have argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; very high surface runoff; moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Devoy soils are used for livestock grazing, woodland, and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is a forest canopy of singleleaf pinyon and Utah juniper with an understory of mountain big sagebrush, Nevada ephedra, bottlebrush squirreltail, Idaho fescue, and bluebunch wheatgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Nevada and south-central Oregon. These soils occur on Whistler Mountain and Mount Hope in the Diamond Valley Area in Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 6,500 acres of the series mapped to date. The series concept and main acreage is in MLRA 28B in Nevada, while other acreage occurs in MLRA 23 in Oregon and adjacent areas in Nevada.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eureka County (Diamond Valley Area), Nevada, 1971.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 30 cm (A1 and 2A2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 30 to 76 cm (2Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 76 cm to underlying hard bedrock (2R layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 30 to 76 cm (2Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: Previous authors and editors include: WMA-ELS-RLB.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.