LOCATION GROSSCHAT NV
Established Series
Rev. GWM/PNL/RLB/JBF
02/2012
GROSSCHAT SERIES
The Grosschat series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from quartz monzonite. Grosschat soils are on mountains. Slopes are 15 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 330 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 6 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Aridic Lithic Argixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Grosschat very gravelly sandy loam. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered with approximately 45 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, and 2 percent stones.
A--0 to 8 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate thin platy and weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine vesicular pores; 40 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles and1 percent stones; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 13 cm thick)
Bt1--8 to 20 cm; brown (10YR 4/3) extremely gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine and common fine and medium roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 50 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 7.2); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 23 cm thick)
Bt2--20 to 33 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) extremely gravelly loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular and interstitial pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds and on rock fragments; 70 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 7.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 18 cm thick)
R--33 cm; hard fractured quartz monzonite, upper 13 cm has fractures 5 to 10 cm apart.
TYPE LOCATION: White Pine County, Nevada; about 2 miles northwest of Upper Sulphur Spring in the Kern Mountains; about 500 feet south and 2,100 feet west of the northeast corner of section 31, T. 20 1/2 N., R. 70 E.; latitude 39 degrees 38 minutes 40 seconds N and longitude 114 degrees 08 minutes 31 seconds W; NAD 83
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry; moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall except for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; aridic soil moisture regime bordering on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature: 6 to 8 degrees C.
Mollic epipedon thickness: 18 to 30 cm, including the upper part of the Bt horizon.
Depth to bedrock: 25 to 36 cm.
Particle-size control section - Percent clay: 18 to 25 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages 60 to 85 percent, mainly gravel.
Bt horizons - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4; 3 chroma only in Bt1.
Rock fragments: 60 to 85 percent, mainly gravel with a high amount 2 to 5 mm in diameter.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Anaud,
Cleavage,
Cleavmor,
Cropper,
Gaciba,
Granquin,
Horsetrack,
Mascamp,
Pernty,
Shalper,
Slatter, and
Tractuff series.
Anaud and
Tractuff soils have bedrock deeper than 36 cm.
Cleavage,
Cleavmor,
Gaciba,
Granquin,
Horsetrack,
Mascamp,
Pernty,
Shalper and
Slatter are not intermittently moist for 10 to 20 days summer precipitation between July and October due to convection storms.
Cropper soils contain 27 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Grosschat soils are on mountains and typically occur on backslope positions. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium derived from quartz monzonite. Slopes are 15 to 50 percent. Elevations are 2,015 to 2,685 meters. The climate is cool, semiarid with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 300 to 360 mm; mean annual temperature is 5 to 7 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 60 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the
Bellenmine series. Bellenmine soils have a particle-size control section that averages 27 to 35 percent clay and are 36 to 50 cm deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:: Well drained. medium to very high runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly bluebunch wheatgrass, Thurber needlegrass and low sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East Central Nevada. MLRA 28A. These soils are not extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: White Pine County, Nevada, East Part. 2004.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the surface to 20 cm (A and Bt1 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 8 to 33 cm (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).
Lithic contact - The boundary at about 33 cm (the lower boundary of the Bt2 horizon).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 33 cm (A, Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).
Classification was updated to 11th edition on 07/2011 changed Lithic Argixerolls to Aridic Lithic Argixerolls.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.