LOCATION FOURMILEBENCH UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Ustic Haplargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Fourmilebench extremely flaggy loamy sand - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted) Surface is covered by 10 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, 15 percent channers, 15 percent flagstones and 5 percent stones.
A--0 to 2 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely flaggy loamy sand, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine platy structure parting to weak fine granular; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 10 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, 15 percent channers, 20 percent flagstones, 10 percent stones; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
Bt--2 to 7 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) very flaggy sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and medium roots; common very fine interstitial and few fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, 15 percent channers, 20 percent flagstones, 10 percent stones; few faint clay films on faces of peds; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 14 inches thick)
R--7 inches; Wahweap Formation sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Kane County, Utah; Fourmile Bench Quadrangle; about 1500 feet east and 500 feet north of the southwest corner of sec. 17, T. 40 S. and R. 2 E.; 37 degrees 19 minutes 86 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 43 minutes 21 seconds west longitude, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Ustic aridic soil moisture regime
Soil Temperature: 47 to 54 degrees F.
Depth to lithic contact: 4 to 20 inches
Depth to argillic: 1 to 14 inches
Reaction: slightly to moderately alkaline throughout
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 10 percent
Clay content: 12 to 20 percent
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent
Bt horizons
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 6, dry or moist
Clay content: 12 to 20 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Puertecito (NM), Quazo (UT), Roygorge (CO), and Wyva (NV) series. Puertecito, Roygorge, Quazo, and Wyva soils contain more than 20 percent clay.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent Material: colluvium over residuum of interbedded sandstone and mudstone
Landform: structural benches, dipslopes of cuestas
Elevation: 5,000 to 6,200 feet
Slope: 15 to 50 percent
Mean annual temperature: 45 to 52 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 9 to 12 inches
Frost-free period: 120 to 160 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Daklos soil. Daklos soils do not have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Fourmilebench soils are used as for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is Utah juniper, green mormontea, broom snakeweed, roundleaf buffaloberry, two-needle pinyon, Indian ricegrass, and galleta.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Utah. MLRA 35, LRR-D. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Soil Survey Area, Utah, 2004.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 2 to 7 inches (Bt horizon)
Lithic contact - the boundary with hard sandstone at 7 inches (R horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition 2006