LOCATION FLORAND CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic Xeric Humicryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Florand very gravelly peaty sandy loam--forest land. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 1 inch of undecomposed conifer duff along with 35 percent gravel and 1 percent stones.
A1--0 to 1 inch; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very gravelly peaty sandy loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common fine interstitial pores; 35 percent gravel and 1 percent stones; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 2 inches thick)
A2--1 to 4 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very gravelly sandy loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 35 percent gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
A3--4 to 12 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) gravelly sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; 25 percent gravel; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
A4--12 to 18 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine to medium roots; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; 25 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--18 to 28 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine to medium roots; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; 35 percent gravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
Bw2--28 to 38 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine to coarse roots; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; 35 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)
2Bw3--38 to 47 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; massive, platy rock structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots and few coarse; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; 15 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; 15 percent paragravel; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
2Cr--47 inches; weathered and fractured tuff-breccia.
TYPE LOCATION: Alpine County, California; on the Toiyabe National Forest about 0.75 mile northeast of The Nipple peak; approximately 2,100 feet south and 450 feet west of the northeast corner of section 7, T. 9 N., R. 19 E.; USGS Carson Pass 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 38 degrees 38 minutes 51.9 seconds north latitude and 119 degrees 55 minutes 29.0 seconds west longitude, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually moist in the moisture control section during late fall, winter, and spring; dry from mid-July through September for 60 to 80 consecutive days in the four months following the summer solstice; Typic xeric moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 40 to 44 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature - 44 to 47 degrees F.
Umbric epipedon thickness - 10 to 20 inches.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 35 to 45 inches.
Depth to bedrock - 40 to 60 inches to a paralithic contact. The paralithic materials below the contact are weathered andesitic tuff or tuff-breccia.
Sodium fluoride pH - 9.5 to 11.5.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: averages 12 to 18 percent; Rock fragments: averages 35 to 50 percent, dominantly gravel. Lithology of fragments are volcanic rocks such as tuff, tuff-breccia, and andesite.
A1 horizon
Organic matter content: 10 to 18 percent.
Reaction: Strongly acid or moderately acid.
Other features: Some pedons have A1 horizons with less than 10 percent organic matter and do not have the peaty texture modifier.
A2, A3, and A4 horizons
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist.
Organic matter content: 2 to 10 percent.
Reaction: Very strongly acid to moderately acid.
Other features: In some pedons base saturation is more than 50 percent by the ammonium acetate method and the A horizons constitute mollic epipedons instead of umbric.
Bw horizons
Value: 4, 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Texture: Very gravelly sandy loam or very gravelly coarse sandy loam.
Clay content: 12 to 20 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent.
Pararock fragments: 10 to 25 percent paragravel or parachanners in lower subhorizons.
Reaction: Strongly acid or moderately acid.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Callat (T), Fishsnooze, Forsell, Lostridge, Sibelia, Sonorapass, and Sumeadow series.
Callat soils are moderately deep to densic contacts. Fishsnooze and Sonorapass soils are moderately deep to lithic contacts. Forsell and Sumeadow soils are very deep. Lostridge soils are moderately deep to paralithic contacts. Sibelia soils have depth to base of the cambic horizon of 14 to 24 inches and have horizons in the particle-size control section that are dominated by cobbles.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Florand soils are on mountains. They typically occur on concave-shaped backslope positions. They formed in colluvium over residuum derived from andesitic tuff and tuff-breccia. Slopes are 15 to 50 percent. Elevations range from 8,000 to 9,000 feet. The climate is subhumid-continental with cold, moist winters and cool, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 35 to 55 inches, mean annual temperature is 35 to 40 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 30 to 60 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Fishsnooze and Lostridge soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium or high surface runoff; moderately rapid permeability (high saturated hydraulic conductivity).
USE AND VEGETATION: Florand soils are used for forest land, recreation, watershed, and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation is mainly a forest canopy of California red fir, western white pine, and lodgepole pine with an understory of currant and lupine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern California on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range. These soils are not extensive with about 9,000 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 22A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alpine County (Toiyabe National Forest Area), California, 2006.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Umbric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 inches (A1, A2, A3, and A4 horizons).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 18 to 38 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 47 inches to underlying soft bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (A4, Bw1, and Bw2 horizons and parts of the A3 and 2Bw3 horizons).
The revision of December 2006 updated the taxonomic class from Xeric Dystrocryepts based on the tenth edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: The typical pedon at the series type location is sampled for the Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL), Lincoln, NE as soil survey sample number S99CA-003-002 (pedon # 00P0465). Another pedon is also sampled as soil survey sample number S99CA-003-003 (pedon # 00P0466).