LOCATION FRAILEY OREstablished Series
SOIL FAMILY: Coarse, loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Xerochrepts.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haploxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Frailey loam, forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
O1--2 inches to 0; fir needles, twigs and partially decomposed material.
A1--0 to 4 inches; very dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine tubular pores; 15 percent fine pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
B21--4 to 10 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine tubular pores; 15 percent fine pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
B22--10 to 33 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent fine pebbles, 5 percent cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 25 inches thick)
B3--33 to 50 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent cobbles, 5 percent pebbles; few thin clay films in pores; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
C--50 to 65 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry; massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent cobbles, 5 percent pebbles; few thin clay films in pores; slightly acid (pH 6.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Wasco County, Oregon; 50 feet north of road in the NE1/4 NE1/4 SW1/4 section 22, T.2N., R.11E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually moist but are dry between depths of 8 and 24 inches for 60 to 80 consecutive days during the summer. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 51 degrees F. The solum ranges from 20 to 50 inches thick. Depth to bedrock is 40 to 60 inches or more. The 10 to 40 inch control section is loam with about 12 to 18 percent clay and more than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand.
The A horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. It is loam with 10 to 20 percent rock fragments (2 mm to 3 inches in diameter). This horizon has weak fine granular to weak very fine subangular blocky structure.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry. It is loam with 5 to 20 percent pebbles and0 to 25 percent cobbles. This horizon has weak or moderate fine or medium subangular blocky structure.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Barron, Clayton, Green Bluff, Koerling and Scala series. Barron soils have sandy or coarse sandy loam profiles. Clayton soils have A2 and Bir horizons and have thin irregular very bands of finer texture in the C horizons. Green Bluff soils have a mixture of silt loam loess and ash over hard and firm medium and coarse textured glacial till containing 1 inch thick horizontal bands. Koerling soils have calcareous lake sediments, a lithologic discontinuity, at depths of 24 to 40 inches. Scala soils have fine sandy loam and sandy loam in the control section and have iron accumulation in the form of bands and stains in the C horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Frailey soils are on uplands, have gently sloping to very steep slopes with gradients dominantly more than 20 percent but ranging from 3 to 70 percent, and are at elevations of 1,000 to 3,500 feet. The soils formed in loess, volcanic ash and colluvium weathered from semiconsolidated sedimentary material. These soils are in a semiarid climate with a mean annual precipitation of 16 to 30 inches. Summers are warm and dry with an average temperature of 60 to 65 degrees F. Winters are cool and moist with an average temperature of 29 to 35 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 49 degrees F. The frost free period (32 degrees F.) is 100 to 140 days and (28 degrees F.) 120 to 160 days.
ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Hesslan, Ketchly, Skyline and Wamic soils. Hesslan soils are mostly on south facing slopes and are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock. Skyline soils are less than 20 inches deep to a paralithic contact. Wamic soils are fine, loamy, lack rock fragments, and have very hard, IIC horizons within depth of 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is woodland. Other uses are range and wildlife. Vegetation is mainly Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, and oak with an understory of bunchgrasses, forbs and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North central Oregon. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wasco County, Oregon, 1975.