LOCATION HEELY SDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Hapludolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Heely channery loam - on a southwest-facing slope of 11 percent under native grassland at 6100 feet elevation. When described, the soil was dry throughout. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) channery loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable; 30 percent coarse fragments; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--6 to 10 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very flaggy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, friable; 40 percent coarse fragments; neutral; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--10 to 17 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) very flaggy sandy loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm; 50 percent coarse fragments; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizons is 6 to 20 inches thick.)
BC--17 to 22 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very flaggy sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm; 60 percent coarse fragments; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
C--22 to 27 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) extremely flaggy sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) moist; massive, slightly hard, firm; 70 percent coarse fragments; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
R--27 to 60 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) tilted, nearly vertical beds of metamorphic rock.
TYPE LOCATION: Pennington County, South Dakota; about 4 miles west and 5 miles south of Rochford, South Dakota; 2000 feet east and 700 feet north of southwest corner sec. 18, T. 1N., R. 3E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mollic epipedon ranges from 7 to 14 inches thick. Darker colors in the lower part of the pedon are inherent from the parent material. The depth to tilled, nearly vertical slate and schist bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments, mainly slate and schist, range from 10 to 40 percent by volume in the upper 10 inches and 35 to 70 percent below and are dominantly channers and flagstones. The soil does not have carbonates throughout and ranges from moderately acid to neutral. The control section contains up to 25 percent mica by weight.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4 (2 or 3 moist) and chroma of 2 or 3. It is loam, silt loam, channery loam, channery silt loam, flaggy loam or flaggy silt loam. Clay content ranges from 15 to 26 percent.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5 Y; value of 4 or 5 (3 or 4 moist); and chroma of 2 to 4. It is sandy loam, loam, clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam and contains 35 to 60 percent by volume of fragments of rock. Clay content ranges from 10 to 30 percent.
The C horizon has value of 3 to 7 (2 to 6 moist) and chroma of 2 to 5. It is sandy loam, loam, or silt loam and typically contains 40 to 70 percent by volume of fragments of rock.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the competing Datino, Labre, Perma, Peso, Sandia, Slimbutte, Veatch, and Wanagan soils. All of the competing series in the same family do not have a significant amount of mica. The Datino, Labre, Perma, and Slimbutte soils do not bedrock above 60 inches. Peso soils and Wanagan soils have a Bk horizon. Sandia soils have bedrock between depths of 40 and 60 inches. Veatch soils have hard bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Heely soils are on gently sloping to steep prairies in mountains at elevations of 3600 to 6200 feet. Slope gradients range from 2 to 40 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from steeply dipping beds of metamorphic rocks. Mean annual temperature ranges from 37 to 45 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 16 to 26 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Buska, Cordeston, Marshdale and Pactola soils. The Buska soils are deep, have more mica, and are in adjacent forested area. The Cordeston and Marshdale soils occur in the swales and drainageways. Cordeston soils have a mollic epipedon more than 16 inches thick and the Marshdale soils have a high watertable. The Pactola soils do not have a mollic epipedon and are on similar landscapes that are forested.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is medium to very high.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for grazing. Native vegetation is little bluestem, blue grama, junegrass, needleandthread, plains muhly, big bluestem, prairie dropseed, leadplant and sedges.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountainous areas of the Black Hills in South Dakota and Wyoming. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pennington County, South Dakota, 1985.
REMARKS: Diagnositic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: mollic epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of about 10 inches (A, Bw1 horizons); cambic horizon - the zone from about 6 to 17 inches (Bw1, Bw2 horizons).