LOCATION HOTEL CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, isomesic Ultic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Hotel very gravelly loam - on a northwest facing convex slope of 65 percent under redwood, Douglas-fir, tanoak and swordfern at 400 feet elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on September 6, 1979, the soil was dry throughout.)
0--2 inches to 0; litter of redwood, Douglas-fir and tanoak.
A--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; strong fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; common fine interstitial pores; 35 percent pebbles (2-50mm); strongly acid (pH 5.5); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)
BA--8 to 17 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly clay loam; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine, medium and coarse roots; common fine interstitial and tubular pores; 45 percent pebbles (2-75mm), 5 percent cobbles (7.5-12cm); moderately acid (pH 5.8); gradual wavy boundary. (5 to 11 inches thick)
Bt--17 to 35 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/4) very gravelly clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine, medium and coarse roots; common fine interstitial and tubular pores; few thin clay films on ped faces and bridging mineral grains, 55 percent pebbles (2-75mm), 5 percent cobbles (7.5-12cm); strongly acid (pH 5.5); abrupt wavy boundary. (11 to 20 inches thick)
R--35 to 38 inches; hard fractured sandstone, fractures are about 8cm apart and are 10 to 25mm wide.
TYPE LOCATION: Mendocino County, California; about 1000 feet northwest of the gauging station along the middle fork of the Tenmile River; 200 feet north and 1400 feet west of the southeast corner of sec. 24, T.20N., R.17W.; Dutchman's Knoll quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a lithic contact and thickness of the solum is 20 to 40 inches. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 50 to 56 degrees F. The difference between mean summer and mean winter temperature ranges from 3 to 6 degrees F. The soil between the depths of 10 inches and 35 inches or bedrock is moist in all parts from November 1 to August 1 and is dry in some part from September 1 to October 1 in most years.
The A horizon is 10YR 5/3, 6/3 or 6/4. Moist color is 10YR 3/3, 3/4, 4/2 or 4/3. Where mollic colors occur the thickness requirements for a mollic epipedon are not met. Gravel content is 15 to 50 percent. Cobble content is 0 to 5 percent. Reaction is strongly through slightly acid.
The B horizon is 10YR 6/3, 6/4, 6/6 or 7/4. Moist color is 10YR 4/4, 5/3, 5/4 or 5/6. It is very gravelly clay loam or very gravelly sandy clay loam and may be extremely gravelly. Clay content ranges from 25 to 35 percent. Gravel content is 35 to 75 percent. Cobble content is 0 to 10 percent. Reaction is strongly or moderately acid. Base saturation (sum) is 35 to 60 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Branscomb (CA) series. Branscomb soils are 40 to 60 inches deep to a lithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Hotel soils occur on mountains. Slopes are 30 to 100 percent. Elevation is 10 to 800 feet. The soils formed in material weathered from sandstone. A strong coastal marine influence limits the diurnal and annual range of temperature. The climate is humid with cool foggy summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 40 to 70 inches. Mean January temperature is 50 degrees F.; mean July temperature is 55 degrees F.; and mean annual temperature is 53 degrees F. The frost-free season is 290 to 365 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Branscomb soils and the Dehaven, Irmulco, and Vandamme soils. All occur on mountains. Dehaven soils are 40 to 60 inches deep to a lithic contact. Irmulco and Tramway soils have fine-loamy particle-size control sections. Vandamme soils have clayey particle-size control sections.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, surface runoff under bare soil conditions is rapid or very rapid; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for commercial timber, wildlife and watershed. Natural vegetation consists of redwood, Douglas-fir, tanoak, huckleberry, swordfern and oxalis.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern coastal California. The series is moderately extensive. MLRA 4.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mendocino County, California, Western Part, 1993.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon -- 0 to 8 inches (A)
Argillic horizon -- 17 to 35 inches (Bt)
Particle-size control section - 35 percent clay, 55 percent gravel.
The classification was changed from Ultic Tropudalfs to Ultic Hapludalfs in 1993. Soil taxonomy Notice 8 deletes Tropudalfs and reclassifies them as Hapludalfs.
The activity class was added to the classification in February of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET
Many areas mapped as Hotel soil were mapped as Hugo soil by the California Soil Vegetation Survey