LOCATION FIFTEENMILE             NV

Established Series
Rev. BKP/JBF
02/2012

FIFTEENMILE SERIES

The Fifteenmile series consist of very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium derived from welded tuff and reworked lacustrine deposits with minor amounts of limestone and quartzite. Fifteenmile soils are on stream terraces, drainageways, and inset fans. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 250 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 8 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Xeric Haplocambids

TYPICAL PEDON: Fifteenmile silt loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered by 2 percent gravel.

A1--0 to 5 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, brown (10YR 4/3), moist; moderate very thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; 5 percent pebbles; violently effervescencent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary.

A2--5 to 20 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4), moist; moderate very thick platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots and few medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; 5 percent pebbles; violently effervescencent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); clear smooth boundary. (Combined A horizon thickness is 8 to 40 cm thick)

Bw--20 to 35 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), moist; strong medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine to coarse roots; common fine to coarse tubular and many very fine tubular pores; 5 percent pebbles; violently effervescencent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 28 cm thick)

Bqk1--35 to 79 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), moist; strong medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few fine to coarse tubular pores; 5 percent fine and medium cylindrical moderately cemented durinodes and 5 percent fine cylindrical moderately cemented carbonate concretions; 3 percent pebbles; violently effervescencent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (28 to 45 cm thick)

Bqk2--79 to 119 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) paragravely silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), moist; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 10 percent fine and medium cylindrical moderately cemented durinodes and 5 percent fine cylindrical moderately cemented carbonate concretions; 3 percent pebbles; violently effervescencent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 40 cm thick)

C--119 to 152 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, moderately plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; violently effervescencent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, Nevada; About 10 miles north of Pioche in Patterson Wash; about 0.5 mile south-southwest of Fifteenmile Well; latitude 38 degrees 5 minutes 44.8 seconds N and longitude 114 degrees 32 minutes 31.0 seconds W; UTM zone 11, 0715545e, 4219295n; NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall except for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July to October due to convection storms; aridic soil moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature: 8 to 11 degrees C.
Depth to base of cambic horizon: 30 to 90 cm.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 18 to 27 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages 1 to 5 percent, mainly pebbles. Lithology of fragments is mixed.

A horizons
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Mineralogy: 5 to 24 percent volcanic glass in the 0.02 to 2 mm fraction and averages 0.01 to 0.05 percent Al plus Fe, extracted by ammonium oxalate.

Bw horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Rock fragments: 1 to 10 percent.
Mineralogy: 5 to 24 percent volcanic glass in the 0.02 to 2 mm fraction and averages 0.01 to 0.05 percent Al plus Fe, extracted by ammonium oxalate.
Structure: Weak to strong, medium to coarse subangular blocky parting to platy in some pedons.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard, dry; very friable or friable, moist, slightly sticky or moderately sticky and slightly plastic or moderately plastic, wet.

Bqk horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Texture: Silt loam or paragravelly silt loam.
Rock fragments: 1 to 5 percent with some pedons containing thin sub-horizons that ranges to 15 percent gravel.
Pararock fragments: Up to 15 percent paragravel composed of weakly cemented or moderately cemented durinodes or concreations.
Mineralogy: 5 to 24 percent volcanic glass in the 0.02 to 2 mm fraction and averages 0.01 to 0.05 percent Al plus Fe, extracted by ammonium oxalate.
Durinodes: 0 to 15 percent weakly cemented or moderately cemented silica nodules.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 10 percent in the fine earth fraction.
Consistence: Soft to moderately hard, dry; very friable or friable, moist.

C horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Fine sandy loam or silt loam.
Rock fragments: 0 to 15 percent, mainly pebbles;
Structure: Subangular blocky or massive.
Consistence: Soft to moderately hard, dry, nonsticky or slightly sticky and slightly plastic or moderately plastic, wet.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chuffa, McLoughlin, Ottmar, Schlomer and Tulch series.

Chuffa soils lack Bqk horizons. McLoughlin soils are moist for 45 consecutive days following summer solstice and are moderately or strongly saline-alkali. Ottmar soils have a paralithic at 100 to 150 cm and Bk horizons at 56 to 90 cm. Schlomer soils have a paralithic contact at moderate depth and Bk horizons at 38 to 66 cm. Tulch soils are noncalcareous in the cambic horizon

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Fifteenmile soils are on stream terraces, drainageways and inset fans. These soils formed in alluvium derived from welded tuff with minor components of limestone and quartzite. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. Elevations range from 1,600 to 2,000 meters. The climate is semiarid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation 200 to 300 mm, mean annual temperature is 7 to 10 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 90 to 110 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Mosida, Penoyer, Rebel, and Sevenmile soils. Mosida soils are coarse-loamy and have an irregular decrease in organic carbon. Penoyer soils are coarse-silty. Rebel and Sevenmile soils are coarse-loamy.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; low surface runoff; moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity. These soils are susceptible to rare flooding for very brief periods year-round.

USE AND VEGETATION: Fifteenmile soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly Wyoming big sagebrush, basin wildrye and rabbitbrush. This soil is correlated to ecological site R028AY031NV, Loamy Fan 8-10 P.Z.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 28A.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County, (Meadow Valley Area, NV713), Nevada, 2010.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 18 cm (A1 and part of A2 horizons).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 20 to 35 cm (Bw horizon).
Particle-size control section - 25 to 100 cm (Bqk1 horizon and parts of the Bw and Bqk2 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: The typical pedon at the series type location was sampled for full characterization by the Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL), Lincoln, NE, as soil survey sample number S05NV-017-008 (pedon # 05N0669).

User pedon ID: 05NV784013-BAG

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.