LOCATION ETTA UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Torrifluventic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Etta loam, irrigated cropland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 3 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, firm, slight;y sticky and plastic; common medium roots; common medium pores; neutral (pH 7.3); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
A--3 to 13 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak coarse angular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few medium roots; few fine pores; neutral (pH 7.2); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 14 inches thick)
C1--13 to 40 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) clay loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; neutral (pH 7.0); diffuse wavy boundary. (12 to 20 inches thick)
C2--40 to 64 inches; similar to C1 horizon except that it has few lime flecks.
TYPE LOCATION: Beaver County, Utah; 3.4 miles south of the Millard-Beaver County line on the old U.S. Highway 91, 440 feet west of the highway; section 28, T.26S., R.7W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 50 degrees F., and the mean summer temperature at a depth of 20 inches is 63 to 65 degrees F. These soils are dry in the 4 and 12 inch depths more than 50 percent of the time the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F. and are continually dry for 50 to 70 consecutive days during the summer months in more than 7 out of 10 years.
The mollic epipedon is 10 to 20 inches thick. The dark colored C horizon has less than 1 percent organic matter below the 20 inch depth. Some thin gravelly lenses occur below about 40 inches in some pedons.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR. It ranges from loam to clay loam in the lower part. This horizon has moderate fine granular to weak coarse angular blocky structure. It is slightly hard or hard and slightly sticky and sticky. It is neutral or slightly alkaline and is 10 to 20 inches thick.
The C horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist; otherwise, it is the same in color as the A horizon. It is dominantly clay loam containing 27 to 35 percent clay. Lenses of coarse material occur below about 30 inches in some pedons. This horizon is neutral or slightly alkaline and is noncalcareous in the upper part with some weak lime veining at a depth of about 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES:
Fanu (NV) soils have 18 to 25 percent clay in the particle size control section.
Harpt (ID) soils have 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle size control section.
Juab (UT) soils have 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle size control section.
Kazul (NV) soils have 18 to 25 percent clay in the particle size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on flood plains at elevations of 5,800 to 6,100 feet. Slopes are 1 to 6 percent. The soils formed in deep alluvial soil material derived from mixed igneous parent material. The climate is dry subhumid, with an average annual precipitation of 12 to 14 inches. June is usually the driest month. The mean annual temperature is 44 to 46 degrees F. The frost free season is 100 to 108 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ushar and Manderfield soils. Ushar soils have B horizons and calcic horizons. Manderfield soils have Bt horizons and have gravelly sand contrasting texture change within a depth of 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The Etta soils are used for rangeland, irrigated cropland, and dryland cropland. Native plants include mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, and antelope bitterbrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Low lying floodplains in the small irrigated valleys north of Beaver. This series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Beaver County, Utah, 1972.
REMARKS: The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.