LOCATION HEPPSIE OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Vertic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Heppsie clay, rangeland on a 65 percent north
slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 7 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) clay, dark
grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; strong fine granular structure;
hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; many fine and very
fine roots; common fine irregular pores; 5 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (4 to
10 inches thick)
A2--7 to 15 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) clay,
dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; common fine and medium and few large roots; common fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.7); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Bw--15 to 24 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) gravelly clay,
dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; common
fine and medium and few large roots; common fine and very fine irregular pores; 20 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles;
slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Cr--24 inches; Saprolitic tuff.
TYPE LOCATION: Jackson County, Oregon; 1/4 mile east of
Emigrant Reservoir about 100 feet south and 2,800 east of the NW corner of sec. 28, T. 39 S., R. 2 E., Willamette Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: These soils are usually moist but are
dry in the control section for 80 to 110 consecutive days during
the summer months in most years. The mean annual soil
temperature is 47 to 54 degrees F. Depth to paralithic contact
is 20 to 40 inches. The particle-size control section has 15 to
35 percent rock fragments, of which 0 to 10 percent are cobbles.
The soils crack to 20 inches or more at some period in most
years.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 or 3 moist,
and 3 or 4 dry, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 moist, and 3
or 4 dry, chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It has 40 to 55 percent clay.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Witham series. Witham soils are deeper than 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Heppsie soils are on hillslopes and mountain slopes at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 feet. Slopes range from
35 to 70 percent. The soils formed in colluvium from tuff,
breccia, and andesite. The mean annual precipitation is 18 to 35 inches. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F, mean January temperature is 32 to 36 degrees F, and mean July
temperature is 62 to 70 degrees F. The frost-free period is 100
to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Brader,
Carney,
Debenger and
McMullin soils. Carney soils have intersecting slickensides. McMullin and Brader soils are less than 20 inches
to bedrock and are loamy. Debenger soils are fine-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Grazing, wildlife and water supply. Native vegetation consists mostly of Oregon white oak, Idaho fescue, birchleaf mountainmahogany and California brome.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Oregon. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jackson County Area, Oregon, 1988.