LOCATION ELLISFORDE WA+OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Calcidic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Ellisforde silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; many roots; few fine pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (7 to 16 inches thick)
Bw1--8 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 5/3) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; many roots; few fine pores; slightly alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Bw2--16 to 24 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few roots; common fine pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 30 inches thick)
2Bk--24 to 60 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) dense thinly laminated silt loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few roots; many very fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent with soft powdery lime segregation; strongly alkaline (pH 9.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Walla Walla County, Washington; NW1/4 NE1/4 section 10, T. 6 N., R. 34 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to the 2Bk horizon is 15 to 40 inches. The mean soil temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. These soils are usually dry in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches. The particle-size control section is mainly silt loam with thin subhorizons of loam and very fine sandy loam in the 2Bk horizon. The control section has 5 to 18 percent clay and less than 15 percent fine sand or coarser. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 16 inches thick.
The A horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist or dry.
The Bw1 horizon has value of 4 to 7 dry, 2 through 5 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist or dry. It is silt loam or very fine sandy loam. Reaction is neutral or moderately alkaline.
The Bw2 horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist or dry. Reaction is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline. The Bw2 horizon is absent in some pedons. Some pedons have a 2C horizon.
The 2Bk horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moist. It is mainly stratified silt loam, but has thin, less than 1 inch, strata of loamy very fine sand, very fine sandy loam and loam, but contains thin strata of sandy loam below 40 inches in some pedons. Reaction is slightly alkaline or strongly alkaline, and contains lime. The 2Bk horizon is absent in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Mikkalo, Neeley, and Ritzville series and the similar Kahlotus series. These soils all lack unconformable thinly laminated lacustrine material within the particle-size control section. Kahlotus soils are weakly stratified and have no evidence of secondary lime above 44 inches in depth. Mikkalo soils have bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Neeley soils have a calcic horizon at a depth of 11 to 20 inches. Ritzville soils are not stratified.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on terraces and their sideslopes, at elevations of 400 to 2,600 feet. Slope gradients range from 0 to 65 percent. Ellisforde soils formed in loess over lacustrine sediments . The climate is semiarid. Mean annual temperature is 48 to 52 degrees F; average annual precipitation is 8 to 12 inches, and frost-free season is 130 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Kahlotus and Ritzville soils and the Burch, Cashmere, Cashmont, Malott, Monse (T), Okanogan, Peshastin, Pogue, and Sagemoor soils. Burch, Cashmere, and Cashmont soils are noncalcareous throughout. Malott and Okanogan soils are coarse-loamy. Monse soils are fine-silty. Peshastin soils are loamy-skeletal. Pogue soils are coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Sagemoor soils have an ochric epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow to medium runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dryland wheat and irrigated alfalfa; small grains and row crops. Native vegetation is bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, common yarrow, silky lupine, and threetip sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Ellisforde series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Walla Walla County, Washington, 1960.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are a mollic epipedon from the surface to 8 inches, a cambic horizon from 8 to 24 inches, and a zone of carbonate accumulation from 24 to 60 inches.