LOCATION HOLTLE                  NV

Established Series
Rev. LNL/LR/ELS
11/2016

HOLTLE SERIES

Holtle soils are very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium derived from welded tuff and some mixed parent material. Holtle soils are on inset fans, alluvial fans and floodplains. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 250 mm and the mean annual temperature is 9 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Duridic Haploxerolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Holtle loam - rangeland. (Colors for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered with 5 percent gravel.

A--0 to 10 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; strong, thick and very thick platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots, mostly between plates; many very fine interstitial pores; 5 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 15 cm thick)

A2--10 to 25 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate, thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine, and few fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial and very fine tubular pores; few insect (cicada) burrows; neutral (pH 6.9); abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 20 cm thick)

Bw--25 to 46 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak, very thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial and few fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 25 cm thick)

Bqk1--46 to 74 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) paragravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky, and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few coarse tubular pores and many very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; about 30 percent very hard, firm, brittle distinct very pale brown (10YR 8/2) cylindrical silica and calcium carbonate cemented durinodes 1 to 3 cm in diameter; strongly effervescent around durinodes and noneffervescent in the matrix; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 50 cm thick)

Bqk2--74 to 152 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) paragravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; very hard, firm to friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; no roots observed; common very fine and fine interstitial, and few very fine and fine tubular pores; 15 percent fine and medium very hard, firm, brittle distinct very pale brown (10YR 8/2) cylindrical silica and calcium carbonate cemented durinodes; strongly effervescent around durinodes and noneffervescent in the matrix; strongly alkaline (pH 8.7).

TYPE LOCATION: Eureka County, Nevada; approximately 600 feet west of the northeast corner of section 31, T.27N., R.54E; USGS Garcia Flat 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees 11 minutes 8 seconds N and longitude 115 degrees 55 minutes 41 degrees W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 40.1855556 latitude, -115.9280556 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist for short periods in winter and early spring and intermittently moist for 10 to 20 days cumulative from July through September due to convection storms; aridic soil moisture regime bordering xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature: 8 to 11 degrees C.
Mollic epipedon: 25 to 35 cm thick.
Depth to duric features: 25 to 55 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: averages 15 to 30 percent paragravel. Thin sub-horizons of up to 50 percent welded tuff gravel in some pedons.

A horizons (and AB horizon when present)
Value: 4 or 5 dry and 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 3 dry and moist.
Organic matter: 2 to 4 percent.

Bw horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry and moist.
Structure: weak or moderate, platy, prismatic, or fine or medium subangular blocky structure.
Soil Reaction: Neutral to slightly alkaline.
Effervescence: Slightly effervescent in the lower part in some pedons.

Bqk horizons
Chroma: 2 to 3 dry or moist.
Paragravel: 15 to 34 percent durinodes, very hard to hard, and very firm to firm, weakly to moderately cemented.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent by volume in the less than 2 mm fraction.
Secondary calcium carbonate: Masses around rock fragments and disseminated in the matrix.
Soil reaction: slightly alkaline through strongly alkaline.
Effervescence: Very slightly effervescent through strongly effervescent.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Stacy series. Stacy soils are not intermittently moist during the summer due to convection storms and the mollic epipedon includes the Bw horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Holtle soils are on inset fans, alluvial fans and floodplains at elevations of 1,770 to 1,980 meters in alluvium derived from welded tuff and some mixed parent material. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. The climate is cool semiarid. Mean annual temperature is 6 to 10 degrees C and mean annual precipitation is 200 to 300 mm. The frost-free season is about 70 to 100 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: these soils are the Alpha, Mau, Pedoli, and Ridit soils. Alpha soils average 20 to 30 percent clay in the particle size control section and have a lithic contact at 100 to 152 cm. Mau soils average 35 to 45 percent clay and 45 to 60 percent rock fragments in the control section and a lithic contact between 50 to 100 cm. Pedoli soils have an ochric epipedon 8 to 28 cm thick over an argillic horizon that average 25 to 35 percent clay. Ridit soils average 18 to 25 percent clay in the control section and a lithic contact at 50 to 100 cm.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity class. Localized areas adjacent to intermittent stream channels and in very narrow drainage ways near the upper elevations are subject to occasional overflow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The principal vegetation is basin big sagebrush with understory grasses of basin wildrye, Nevada bluegrass, sedge, creeping wildrye, and rubber rabbitbrush. This pedon is correlated to ecological site R028BY003NV, Loamy Bottom 10-14 P.Z.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central Nevada. Holtle soils are of small extent. MLRA 28B, 28A and 29.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County (Meadow Valley Area), Nevada, 1971.

REMARKS: Holtle soils were formerly classified as Alluvial soils and as frigid, 2/2008. The series type location was moved to the Soil Survey of Diamond Valley Area, Nevada in March 2010 to better reflect the series concept.

Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The layer from the surface to 25 cm (A1 and A2 horizons).
Cambic horizon - The layer from 25 to 46 cm (Bw horizon).
Duric features - The layer from 46 to 152 cm (Bqk1 and Bqk2 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The layer from 25 to 100 cm (Bw, Bqk1 and part of Bqk2 horizon).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.