LOCATION GRANGEVILLE CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Fluvaquentic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Grangeville fine sandy loam - cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 11 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
Bg--11 to 20 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; few fine prominent and distinct yellowish brown 10YR 5/4 to 10YR 5/8 dry redoximorphic masses of iron accumulation, strong brown 7.5YR 5/7 and 7.5YR 5/8 moist; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
2C--20 to 60 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) stratified fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand and loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine prominent and distinct yellowish brown 10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/8 dry redoximorphic masses of iron accumulation that are strong brown 7.5YR 5/6 and 7.5YR 5/8 moist; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated and decreasing with increasing depth; strongly alkaline (pH 9.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Madera County, California; SW1/4, SW1/4, Sec. 24, T. 11 S., R 16 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches is 59 degrees to 65 degrees F., and the soil temperature usually is not below 47 degrees F. at any time. Soil between the depths of about 8 and 24 inches is continuously dry from May or early June until November or early December. In most years under natural conditions, the soils are saturated within 25 to 40 inches of the surface for several months or more, usually about January to April. Additional effective moisture is added through dense ground fog in the San Joaquin Valley. The 10 to 40 inch control section is stratified and averages less than 18 percent clay by weight and has more than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand. Rock fragments range from 0 to 5 percent. Organic matter is 1.5 to 6 percent in the upper 10 inches and averages less than 1 percent at a depth of 20 inches. The organic matter decreases irregularly with increasing depth.
The A horizon has dry color of 10YR 4/1, 4/2, 4/3, 5/1, 5/2, 5/3, 6/2; 2.5Y 5/2, 4/2; 5Y 4/1 or 4/2 and moist color of 10YR 2/1, 2/2, 3/1, 3/2, 3/3; 2.5Y 3/2, 3/3; 5Y 3/1 or 3/2. It is sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, light loam, silt loam, or clay loam. The A horizon is slightly acid to moderately alkaline and slightly alkaline to very strongly alkaline in saline-sodic phases. Some pedons are effervescent at the surface. In saline-sodic phases the sodium adsorption ratio is always less than 13 in this horizon.
The B horizon has dry color of 10YR 5/2, 6/2, 6/3, 7/2, 7/3; 2.5Y 6/2, 5/2; 5Y 5/1, 5/2, 6/2 or 6/3. Faint to prominent redoximorphic masses of iron are present. This horizon is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, light loam or light silt loam. It has weak structure or is massive. It is neutral to moderately alkaline and slightly alkaline to very strongly alkaline in saline-sodic phases. In most pedons, some or all of this horizon is calcareous with carbonates mostly disseminated, but in some pedons fine carbonate segregations are present. Carbonates range from 0 to 5 percent. In some pedons the B horizon is absent.
The C horizon is similar to the B horizon in most features but includes dry color of 10YR 8/1, 7/2, 6/2, 5/4, 5/3, or 5/2; 2.5Y 7/2; 5Y 5/1, or 6/1 and moist color of 5Y 4/1, 4/2, 5/1, 5/2; 2.5Y 4/2, 5/2; 10YR 3/2, 3/3, 4/2, 4/3, 5/2, 5/3 or 7/1. It is stratified loamy sand to silt loam, clay content is 8 to 18 percent, and colors are very variable. It is neutral to strongly alkaline and slightly alkaline to very strongly alkaline in saline-sodic phases. Carbonates usually decrease from the B horizon but always by less than 5 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Grangeville soils are on alluvial fans and floodplains at elevations of 0 to 1800 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. The soils formed in moderately coarse textured alluvium dominantly derived from granitic rock sources. Some areas are saline and saline-sodic affected. Many areas have been reclaimed. The climate is dry subhumid with hot dry summer and cool moist winters. The mean annual precipitation, all in the form of rain, is 7 to 16 inches. Mean annual temperature is 60 degrees to 64 degrees F., mean January temperature is 45 degrees to 50 degrees F., mean July temperature is 72 degrees to 80 degrees F. The frost-free season is 200 to 300 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Borden, Dello, Dinuba and Traver soils and the competing Foster and Hanford soils. Borden and Dinuba soils have an argillic horizon and lack a mollic epipedon. Dello soils have sandy particle size families. Traver soils have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; this soil has altered drainage because of the dams and reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada, pumping from the water table, tile and interceptor drains, and filling and leveling of sloughs in the vicinity. negligible to very low runoff; moderately rapid permeability and moderate permeability in saline-sodic phases. Formerly most areas of Grangeville soils were occasionally flooded, but now stream flow is controlled by large flood control structures to the extent that most areas are not flooded more than once in about 25 to 75 years. The water table is at depths of 24 to 48 inches unless drained. If drained, the water table is at depths of 48 to greater than 60 inches. (See Remarks)
USE AND VEGETATION: Used intensively for growing alfalfa, grapes, cotton, truck crops and irrigated pasture. Some areas are being urbanized. Vegetation in uncultivated areas is annual grasses and forbs with native (sodic) alkali-tolerant plants and a few scattered oak and cottonwood trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East side of the San Joaquin Valley and intermountain valleys in the western part of southern California. The series is extensive in MLRA-17, 19. (See Remarks)
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kings County, California, 1938.
REMARKS: The description of the Foster series has not been recently revised and differentiation of the two soils is not clearly defined. Foster soils are assumed to have a regular decrease in organic matter. Pumping of ground water and changes in season and volume of stream flow has greatly changed the moisture regime of many areas classified as Grangeville soil in the past. It is doubtful that many areas are any longer saturated within 40 inches of the surface. The Bg horizon is considered by some observers to be a C horizon.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 11 inches (Ap).
Fluvaquentic subgroup - organic carbon decreases irregularly with increasing depth.