LOCATION HOVEY CA+ID NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aquic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Hovey silty clay loam, meadow. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--2 to 5 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky, plastic; many fine roots; common very fine and fine pores; weakly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
A2--5 to 10 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; moderate medium granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, plastic; common fine roots; many very fine and fine pores; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 19 inches thick)
Bk--10 to 32 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; common medium faint dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) mottles; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, plastic; few fine roots; many very fine and fine pores; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 26 inches thick)
C1--32 to 48 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; common fine distinct gray (10YR 5/1) and light gray (10YR 7/1) mottles; massive; slightly hard, friable, sticky, plastic; few fine roots; many very fine and fine pores; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
C2--48 to 70 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; common medium and fine distinct light gray (10YR 7/1), dark gray (10YR 4/1), dark brown (10YR 3/3), and olive (5Y 4/3) mottles; massive; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few very fine pores; slightly effervescent except in lime masses, which are violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4).
TYPE LOCATION: Modoc County, California, about 3 miles southeast of Fort Bidwell and 350 feet south and 1,440 feet east of the northwest corner sec. 23, T.46N., R.16E., Mount Diablo base line and meridian; 41 degrees, 50 minutes, 52.9 seconds north latitude and 120 degrees, 06 minutes, 26.7 seconds west longitude, NAD 1927; Larkspur Hills quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Saturated with water for 1 or more months during most years.
Control section - Clay content: Averages 24 to 35 percent.
Effervescence - Slight to violent.
Reaction - Moderately alkaline to strongly alkaline, decreasing with depth.
A horizons - Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist. Color value is not darker than 5.5 dry and 3.5 moist after the surface 7 inches are mixed
Structure: Weak or moderate, fine or medium granular or subangular blocky structure or it is massive.
Consistence: Soft to hard, dry.
Bk horizon: Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 7 or 8 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 1 or 2.
Texture: Average silty clay loam or heavy silt loam containing more than 15 percent fine or coarser sand. Thin strata of loam, fine sandy loam or clay loam are common.
Redoximmorphic features: Few or common, faint or distinct iron concentrations of 2 through 4 chroma.
C horizons: Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Redoximmorphic features: Few to many, faint to prominent iron concentrations or depletions of yellowish hue and low or high chroma.
COMPETING SERIES: These are no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Hovey soils are on smooth, nearly level flood plains or enclosed basins at elevations of 4,300 to 6,000 feet. Slope gradients are less than 1 percent. Hovey soils formed in silty alluvium or lacustrine sediments of mixed lithologic origin and that have been modified by limy ground water. They formed under a cool, continental climate. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 16 inches, and most of it falls as snow. Mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F., average January temperature about 26 degrees F., and average July temperature about 65 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bidwell, Surprise, and Hussa soils. Surprise soils are well drained. Bidwell, Hussa, and Surprise soils have ashy control sections and mollic epipedons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Surface runoff is very slow and permeability is slow. The water table fluctuates between 2 to 3 feet during most of the irrigation season.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for irrigated pasture, though meadow hay is harvested on some areas. Vegetation is mainly wiregrass, sedges and other water-tolerant grasses and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Modoc Plateau and Shasta Valley areas of northern California. The soil is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Shasta Valley Area, Siskiyou County, California, 1919.
REMARKS: The Hovey soils were formerly classified as calcium carbonate Solonchaks.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 10 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
Particle size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Bk and part of C1 horizons.
Calcic horizon - The zone from 10 inches to 32 inches (Bk horizon)