LOCATION HOUSTAKE OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Vitritorrandic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Houstake ashy sandy loam, on a 1 percent slope at elevation of 3,480 feet in sagebrush steppe. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described the soil was moist below 2 inches.)
A--0 to 6 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) ashy sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine pores; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
AB--6 to 22 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) ashy loamy sand, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many roots; many very fine pores; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 18 inches thick)
2Bq1--22 to 43 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; few medium and fine dark reddish brown (5YR 4/4) relic mottles; massive; very hard, firm and brittle; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 24 inches thick)
2Bq2--43 to 60 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam; dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; massive; very hard, firm and brittle; strongly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Crook County, Oregon SE1/4 NW1/4 NW1/4 section 31, T. 16 S., R. 16 E.; 30 feet south of trail.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 51 degrees F. Soils are moist in winter and spring. They are warmer than 41 degrees F from March 15 to November 1, and they are dry in this period after July 1. Depth to the firm brittle layer is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to bedrock is more than 60 inches. The mollic epipedon is 10 to 15 inches thick. Base saturation is 80 to 100 percent. The solum has a phosphate retention of 15 to 25 percent, 10 to 30 glass and glass-coated aggregate, and acid oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half the acid oxalate iron of 0.4 to 0.8 percent. The particle-size control section averages 5 to 10 percent clay, 55 to 75 percent sand and 0 to 15 percent gravel.
The A horizon has chroma of 2 or 3 dry and moist.
The AB and/or Bw horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry and moist. It is ashy loamy sand or ashy sandy loam. It is neutral or slightly alkaline.
The 2Bq horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. It is slightly or moderately alkaline. It is noneffervescent or slightly effervescent. It is very firm or firm and brittle. It is fine sandy loam or sandy loam. In some pedons below a depth of 40 inches textures are very gravelly.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Deschutes and Lafollette Series. Deschutes soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock. Lafollette soils have very gravelly substratum at 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Houstake soils are in shallow depressions and drainages on lava plains. Elevations are 2,500 to 4,000 feet. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in alluvium containing ash and material weathered from lava rocks. The mean annual precipitation is 8 to 12 inches. The average January temperature is 30 to 32 degrees F, the average July temperature is 63 to 66 degrees F, and the mean annual temperature is 47 to 52 degrees F. The frost-free period is 70 to 100 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Statz and competing Deschutes soils. Statz soils have a duripan at depths of 10 to 20 inches and bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; permeability in moderately rapid above the brittle layer and moderate through the brittle layer.
USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is mountain big sagebrush, needleandthread, Idaho fescue, antelope bitterbrush, and western juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains; MLRA 10, pumice zone. The soils are moderate in extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Upper Deschutes River Area, Oregon, 1992.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 15 inches (A horizon and part of th AB horizon)
Vitritorrandic - based on data from the Deschutes Series, glass content is about 18 percent, phosphate retention is about 20 percent, and acid oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half the acid oxalate iron is about 0.6 throughout the upper 22 inches.
Duric- hard, firm and brittle layer at 22 inches.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil characterization data on one pedon (S79-OR-017-5) reported in Oregon State University Soils Laboratory. Andic soil properties analysis based on data from the geographically associated Deschutes series.