LOCATION FANCHER            CA
Tentative Series
Rev. GLH/RCH
01/2003

FANCHER SERIES


The Fancher series consists of moderately deep, well drained, fine textured, (maximal) Reddish Prairie soils developed in hydrothermally altered serpentine rock. They occur on steep to very steep ridges under annual grass and forbs or woodland-grass-shrub vegetation. The Fancher soils have reddish brown loam to clay loam, often gravelly or cobbly A horizons and reddish brown, neutral to slightly acid, gravelly clay or clay B2t horizons overlying highly fractured serpentine bedrock. The soils have relatively high calcium-magnesium ratios (1:1 to 2:1) compared to other soils developed on serpentine.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Mollic Haploxeralfs

TYPICAL PEDON:

O1--0.25 to 0 inches; litter of dried grass and forb leaves and stems, some shrub leaves; rests on:

All--0 to 2 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) when moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; abundant fine roots; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. 0 to 3 inches thick.

A12--2 to 7 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) when moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; plentiful fine roots; common medium tubular pores randomly oriented; occasional angular fragments of serpentine; neutral; clear wavy boundary. 5 to 7 inches thick.

B1--7 to 12 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) gravelly loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) when moist; massive to very weak medium blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few medium and fine roots; common medium randomly directed tubular pores; few to common thin clay films on ped faces, continuous thin clay films in pores; gravels are angular fragments of parent rock; neutral; abrupt irregular boundary. 4 to 7 inches thick.

B2t--12 to 20 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) gravelly clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) when moist; strong fine angular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few fine random tubular pores; continuous moderately thick clay films on ped faces and in pores; gravels are angular fragments of the parent rock; slightly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. 6 to 20 inches thick.

B3t--20 to 25 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) when moist; moderate fine angular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few fine random tubular pores; many moderately thick clay films on ped faces and in pores; gravels are angular fragments of parent rock; slightly acid; abrupt broken boundary. 4 to 7 inches thick.

C/R--25 + inches; highly fractured and moderately weathered serpentine parent rock; varied colors of green, white, yellow, and red; soil material tongues along fractures and clay films coat some weathered rock fragments; plentiful fine to medium roots follow the soil-filled cracks; grades to unweathered, fractured rock within 4 feet of surface.

TYPE LOCATION: Three and one-half miles (airline) WSW of Trimmer on Hog Mountain, California Division of Forestry Truck Trail; SW 1/4, SE 1/4, Sec. 9, T. 12 S., R. 24 E., MDB&M. Fresno County, California.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The A horizons range in texture from loam to clay loam and are often gravelly or cobbly. Some areas may be stony or rocky. The surface soils range in color from reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) and (5YR 4/4) dry, too dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4 and 5YR 3/3, 3/4) moist; and in reaction from slightly acid to neutral. They are commonly massive and slightly hard or hard, but on protected areas may have 2 to 4 inch granular surface horizons. The B2t horizons are usually redder than the surface soils, being dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) when dry and dark reddish brown to dark red (2.5YR 3/4 or 3/6) when moist. Subsoils range in texture from clay to gravelly clay; in reaction from neutral to slightly acid, occasionally mildly alkaline; and the structure is strong angular blocky. The B3t horizons may be brown (7.5YR 5/4) to light reddish brown (2.5YR or 5YR 6/4). They range in texture from loam to clay loam and are gravelly to very gravelly. The C horizons are structureless, gravelly loamy horizons of varied greenish and yellowish colors inherited from the parent material. The thickness of the solum may range from 18 to 48 inches.

COMPETING SERIES: These are Delpiedra, Dubakella, Guenoc, Henneke, Sacata, and Trabuco soils. Delpiedra soils have hard surface horizons and heavy loam B2t horizons. Dubakella soils have high C/N ratios and are clay loams throughout. Guenoc soils have dark red, medium acid B2t horizons abruptly overlie hard serpentine bedrock at depths less than 20 inches. Sacata soils have red, clay B2t horizons developed in mica schist. The Trabuco soils are very similar but are developed on basic igneous rock (gabbro).

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Fancher soils occur at elevations of 600 to 3,000 feet in a semiarid, mesothermal climate with hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters; having a mean annual precipitation of 16 to 20 inches most of which falls as rain but with occasional snow. The mean annual temperature is 57 degrees to 62 degrees F. The average frost-free season is 180 to 220 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Fancher soils occur in the same general area as Delpiedra and Las Posas soils.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to somewhat excessively drained. Runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability of the subsoil is low. Without vegetative cover these soils have high erosion hazard. lanslide hazard is higher on these soils than for associated soils, with the exception of the Delpiedra series.

USE AND VEGETATION: Primarily rangeland; however, it is also important in the watershed and wildlife sectors of land use. Principally annual grasses and forbs with some perennial grasses of the stipa species. On protected and north-facing slopes a grass-shrub (mainly wedgeleaf ceanothus) or woodland (blue oak) grass shrub cover is found.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western foothills of the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. They are moderately extensive.

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

SERIES PROPOSED: Eastern Fresno County Area, 1960. The name is taken from Fancher Creek, Fresno County, California. This name was used for a young Alluvial soil in the 1900 soil survey around Fresno. The name was discarded and the soils correlated with other series in the 1912 Soil Survey of the Eastern Fresno Area.

The activity class was added to the classification in January of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. Minerology was left as mixed due to lack of lab data and high calcium-magnesium ratios. - ET

OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 10/63.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.