LOCATION ETIL UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Carbonatic, mesic Oxyaquic Torripsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Etil loamy sand--on a 4 percent convex east-facing slope--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 5 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loamy sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; 3 to 5 percent fine gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 7 inches thick)
C1--5 to 11 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sand, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; 3 to 5 percent fine gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
C2--11 to 20 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; 15 percent fine gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); gradual smooth boundary. (9 to 24 inches thick)
C3--20 to 32 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2); diffuse wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
C4--32 to 60 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) coarse sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Box Elder County, Utah; about 12 miles south-southwest of Promontory; approximately 1,050 feet south and 600 feet east of the northwest corner of section 9, T. 8 N., R. 6 W.; USGS Messix Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 41 degrees 26 minutes 33 seconds north latitude and 112 degrees 32 minutes 29 seconds west longitude, NAD27; UTM zone 12N 371158E, 4589034N, NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - These soils are usually moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; dry in all parts between depths of 12 and 35 inches for more than 60 consecutive days in summer; Aridic (torric) moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature - 49 to 54 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature - 74 to 76 degrees F.
Calcium carbonate equivalent - 40 to 90 percent.
Other features - Cemented oolitic aggregates, 0.25 to 1.5 inches in diameter, may be in any horizon and range from 1 to 15 percent by volume.
A horizon - Value: 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
C horizons - Value: 6 through 8 dry, 5 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Sand or coarse sand.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline through very strongly alkaline (up to pH 9.6).
Salinity (EC): 2 to 8 mmhos/cm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Etil soils are on slightly elevated beach ridges along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. They formed in beach sand and eolian sands derived mainly from oolites (ooliths). Oolites are small, rounded, sand-sized accretionary bodies formed of concentric layers of calcium carbonate around a sand-sized nucleus of mineral or organic origin and formed in wave-agitated waters. Mineral grains derived from metamorphic and sedimentary rocks are also a component of the soil parent material. Slopes are 1 to 6 percent. Elevations range from 4,200 to 4,300 feet. The climate is semiarid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 8 to 10 inches, the annual temperature is 47 to 52 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 100 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Palisade and Saltair soils as well as the miscellaneous area playas. Palisade soils are coarse-loamy and have calcic horizons. Saltair soils have salic horizons and a seasonal high water table at or near the surface. These soils generally occur on slightly lower topographic positions than the Etil soil. Playas are barren lakebeds between open saline water and vegetated beach ridges.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; very low surface runoff; rapid permeability (high or very high saturated hydraulic conductivity). Endosaturation is present with an apparent seasonal high water table between 2.5 and 5.0 feet (moderately deep or deep free water occurrence classes) between April and August. Cumulative annual duration class is Common. Depth to the water table depends on nearness to and elevation of areas above the salt playas.
USE AND VEGETATION: Etil soils are used for rangeland. The present vegetation is Indian ricegrass, black greasewood, alkali sacaton, rabbitbrush, shadscale, cheatgrass, spiny hopsage, and Wyoming big sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Utah along the Great Salt Lake. These soils are not extensive with about 2,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 28A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Box Elder County, Utah, Eastern Part, 1969.
REMARKS: This revision of September 2005 updates the taxonomic class from Carbonatic, mesic Typic Xeropsamments based on a mean annual precipitation of 8 to 10 inches, correlation to a semidesert range site, and endosaturation within 150 centimeters of the soil surface.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 5 inches (A horizon).
Endosaturation feature - The condition of ground water with an upper boundary between 30 and 60 inches at certain times during normal years (parts of the C3 and C4 horizons).