LOCATION GOOCH UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, calcareous, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Gooch silt loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
An--0 to 8 inches; gray (2.5Y 6/1) silt loam, dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) moist; moderate and weak medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many medium roots; few fine pores; strongly calcareous, moderately alkaline (pH 8.3); 15 percent exchangeable sodium; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick.)
Bkng--8 to 18 inches; light gray (5Y 7/1) clay loam, gray (5Y 6/1) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; few medium roots, common medium pores; very strongly calcareous, strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); 18 percent exchangeable sodium; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 11 inches thick.)
Ckng--18 to 30 inches; white (5Y 8/1) clay loam, gray (5Y 6/1) moist; few fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; massive; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; strongly calcareous, strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); 29 percent exchangeable sodium; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 23 inches thick.)
2Cng--30 to 47 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) mottles; massive; slightly hard, friable; few fine pores; moderately calcareous, strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); 32 percent exchangeable sodium.
TYPE LOCATION: Weber County, Utah; about 0.5 miles north and 1.25 miles west of Farr West Church; approximately 1,320 feet north and 400 feet west of the southeast corner of section 27, T. 7 N., R. 2 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The seasonal high water table is at a depth of 10 to 20 inches, unless the soil is drained. Texture of the 10 to 40 inch control section is loam or clay loam with a clay percent of 18 to 35 percent.
The An horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, value of 4 or 5 moist and 6 or 7 dry, and chroma of 1 and 2. Some pedons have faint to distinct mottles in the An horizon. Textures are silt loam and silty clay loam. Exchangeable sodium percentage ranges from 10 to 40 percent.
The Bkng and Ckng horizons have hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 to 6 moist and 7 or 8 dry, and chroma of 2 or less. The calcium carbonate equivalent ranges from 10 to 60 percent and the exchangeable sodium percentage ranges from 10 to 45 percent.
The 2Cng horizon has hue of 10YR and 7.5YR, value of 4 to 5 moist and 6 to 7 dry, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture ranges from very fine sandy loam to loamy fine sand.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Gooch soils are in smooth to undulating, nearly level, depressions on lake terraces; slopes are less than 1 percent. These soils formed in alluvium and lacustrine deposits derived from limestone, sandstone, quartzite and gneiss. The climate is dry subhumid. The mean annual precipitation is 14 to 18 inches. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 50 degrees F., the mean summer temperature is 68 to 72 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 130 to 165 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are in the Warm Springs and Syracuse soils. Warm Springs soils have mollic epipedons. Syracuse soils are coarse-loamy and have mollic epipedons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; surface runoff is slow to ponded; permeability is slow or very slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly as range. Some small areas have been drained and are used for growing small grains, sugar beets, and irrigated pasture. The native vegetation is mostly saltgrass, but includes some alkali sacaton, foxtail and in some places, pickleweed and annual kochia.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Utah. These soils are not extensive with about 2,900 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 28A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soda Springs-Pancroft areas Pannock County, Idaho, 1925.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 8 inches (An horizon).
Calcic horizon - The zone from 8 to 30 inches (Bkng and Ckng horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Ckng horizon and parts of the Bkng and 2Cng horizons).
The revision of October 2005 updated the taxonomic class from Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Endoaquepts. Additional field work is needed to verify the depth to the seasonal high water table.
ADDITIONAL DATA: The typical pedon at the series type location has partial characterization data by the Soils Laboratory from Utah State University (USU) Logan, UT as lab numbers U584501 to U584507. It is unpublished data.