LOCATION GAVIOTA CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Lithic Xerorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Gaviota gravelly loam, grass range. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 6 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary.
A2--6 to 10 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt wavy boundary.
R--10 to 17 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) hard meta-sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Stanislaus County, California; nine miles west of the town of Westley, California; 1,700 feet north and 500 feet east of the southwest corner of section 6, T. 5 S., R. 6 E., MDB&M; USGS Solyo, California Quadrangle, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a lithic contact of hard rock is 6 to 20 inches. The soils become moist below a depth of 6 inches some time between mid-October and mid-December and remain moist all the time in some parts below 6 inches until early April or late May. The mean annual soil temperature is 59 to 64 degrees F. and the soil temperature does not go as low as 41 degrees F. at any time. Texture throughout is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, gravelly sandy loam, gravelly fine sandy loam, and gravelly loam. Clay content is 10 to 18 percent. Rock fragment content is less than 25 percent. Sand content is more than 40 percent of the fine earth fraction. Coarse and very coarse sand content is less than 20 percent.
The A horizon has color of 10YR 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 5/6, 5/8, 4/3; 2.5Y 6/2, 6/4, 5/2; 7.5YR 5/2, 5/4 or 6/4. Moist values are 4 throughout or if less than 4 they occur only in the upper part or have dry values of 6 or more. Reaction is moderately acid to neutral. Some pedons have a C horizon that differs from the A horizon principally by being one value unit lighter.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Daulton , Exchequer (CA), Ocraig (CA), Snook (CA) and Whiterock (CA) series. Daulton soils have moist value of 3 and have a massive and hard epipedon. Exchequer soils have less than 50 percent sand in the fine earth fraction. Ocraig soils are neutral, have greater than 20 percent coarse and very coarse sand content. Snook soils are dry in all parts from early June to mid October. Whiterock soils have 25 to 50 percent sand and a mean annual soil temperature of 63 to 67 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gaviota soils are on hills and mountains. Slope is 2 to 100 percent. These soils formed in material weathered from sandstone and meta-sandstone. Elevation is 200 to 4,400 feet. Rock outcrops are commonly associated with this soil and occupy from less than 2 percent to 50 percent of the surface area. The climate is dry subhumid with hot dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 10 to 30 inches. Mean January temperature is about 42 degrees F. and about 56 degrees F. along the coast of California; mean July temperature is about 75 degrees F.; mean annual temperature is about 56 to 65 degrees F. The frost-free season is 175 to 350 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Altamont, Los Gatos, Los Osos, Vallecitos and Wadesprings soils. Altamont soils, on uplands, hills and mountains, have a fine particle-size control section. Los Gatos soils, on mountains, are moderately deep and have an argillic horizon. Los Osos soils, on uplands, have an argillic horizon and a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Vallecitos soils, on hills, have an argillic horizon and a clayey particle-size control section. Wadesprings soils, on uplands, have an argillic horizon and magnesic mineralogy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well and excessively well drained; very low to very high runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for livestock grazing. Some of the less sloping areas are cropped to dryland grain. Natural vegetation is California sage, chamise, manzanita, purple needlegrass and annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mostly in the California Coast Ranges. The soils are extensive. MLRA 15, 20.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Stanislaus County (Newman Area), California, 1941.
REMARKS: Soils in the Amargosa series as recognized in the Antelope Valley Area, California are not included in the Gaviota series. Soils formed in material weathered from granite are now excluded from the Gaviota series.
The revision made on 09/96 moves the type location to better represent the series as mapped for the Gaviota series.
CEC/Clay ratio estimated from similar soils with laboratory data in the W. Stanislaus Soil Survey Area.
Runoff terminology adjusted 4/96 to adjective criteria of the Soil Survey Manual, 10/93.
Competing series updated 01/2003.
Warmer January temperatures occur along the southern Coastal range. These were phased until a possible later decision to split these out as separate series.