LOCATION GITAKUP NV
Established Series
Rev. CEJ/WED/JVC/JBF
05/2016
GITAKUP SERIES
The Gitakup series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in alluvium and lacustrine sediments derived from mixed rocks. Gitakup soils are on lake terraces. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Sodic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Gitakup silty clay loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 5 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; strong medium platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine to coarse interstitial pores and many fine and medium vesicular pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)
Bwn1--5 to 28 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silty clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong fine prismatic structure parting to strong fine angular blocky; hard, very friable, very sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine to coarse roots; many very fine to medium tubular pores; many distinct pressure faces; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (20 to 36 cm thick)
Bwn2--28 to 51 cm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak coarse prismatic structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine to coarse roots; many very fine to medium tubular pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 28 cm thick)
C--51 to 74 cm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) silty clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3)moist on faces of peds and brown (10YR 5/3) crushed, moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; very few very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 25 cm thick)
Czy--74 to 157 cm; olive (5Y 5/3) and light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam, olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) moist; weak fine and medium angular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine to coarse roots; very few fine tubular pores; many large salt masses and few crystals of gypsum; slightly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Washoe County, Nevada; on the west side of Honey Lake Valley near the California-Nevada state line; 1,550 feet north and 280 feet east of the southwest corner of section 15, T. 26 N., R. 18 E.; USGS State Line Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees 07 minutes 08 seconds N and longitude 119 degrees 57 minutes 34 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 40.1188889 latitude, -119.959444 longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist for short periods in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Reaction: Strongly alkaline or very strongly alkaline.
Particle-size control section - Clay content averages 27 to 35 percent.
A horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Salinity (EC): 8 to 16 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 45.
Bwn horizons
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Texture: Silty clay loam or silty clay.
Consistence: Soft to slightly hard, slightly sticky to very sticky, slightly plastic to very plastic.
Salinity (EC): 16 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 30 to 99.
C and Czy horizons
Hue: 10YR through 5Y.
Value: 5 through 7, dry.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: Dominantly silty clay loam, but may have thin strata of silt loam through silty clay.
Consistence: Soft to hard, very friable or friable, slightly sticky to moderately sticky, slightly plastic to moderately plastic.
Salinity (EC): 16 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 99.
Gypsum content: 0 to 1 percent as secondary crystals.
Other features: Visible sodium salts are present in most pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Chuckles series. Chuckles soils average 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle-size control section and have moderately slow permeability.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gitakup soils are on lake terraces associated with Pleistocene Lake Lahontan. They formed in alluvium and lacustrine sediments derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. Elevations range from 1,100 to 1,525 meters. The climate is cool-arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 200 mm, the mean annual temperature is 10 to 11 degrees C., and the frost-free period is 100 to 120 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Chuckles soil and the
Parran soil. Parran soils are clayey, somewhat poorly drained, and have salic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained; negligible to low surface runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Gitakup soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, bud sagebrush, black greasewood, Indian ricegrass, and seepweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 27.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washoe County, Nevada, Central part, 1990.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A horizon and the upper part of the Bwn1 horizon).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 5 to 51 cm (Bwn1 and Bwn2 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 25 to 100 cm (parts of the Bwn1, Bwn2, C, and Czy horizons).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.