LOCATION HUSE               CA 
Established Series
Rev. SBJ/RCH
7/98

HUSE SERIES


The Huse series is a member of a clayey, mixed, mesic family of Lithic Xerochrepts. The soils have reddish brown granular stony clay loam A horizons and brown very stony loam horizons underlain at about 20 inches by peridotite bedrock.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, active, mesic Lithic Haploxerepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Huse stony clay loam - forested (Colors for dry conditions unless otherwise indicated).

01--1 to 0 inches; Partially decomposed pine needles.

A11--0 to 2 inches; Reddish brown (5YR 4/4) stony clay loam, dusky red (10YR 3/3) moist; strong fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; plentiful very fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; neutral pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 3 inches thick).

A12--2 to 5 inches; Dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) stony clay loam, dusky red (10YR 3/3) moist, (reddish brown rubbed); moderate fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; plentiful very fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick).

B21--5 to 9 inches; Strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) stony clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; plentiful very fine, few fine roots; many very fine interstitial, many fine tubular pores; numerous spheroidal or tubular pellets about 1 to 2 centimeters in their longest dimension; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick).

B22--9 to 17 inches; Strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) stony clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; plentiful very fine, few fine and medium roots; many fine tubular pores, pellets same as above, neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick).

C--17 to 20 inches; Strong brown (7.5YR 5/6 and 4/6) very stony heavy loam, mottled reddish brown and strong brown (5YR 4/4, 7.5YR 4/6) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly plastic, slightly sticky; few fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial, few fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick).

R--20 inches +; Partially serpentinized fractured peridotite.

TYPE LOCATION: Mendocino County, California, on Red Mountain, in NE 1/4, Sec. 19, T. 24N., R.16W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 6 to 18 inches, depth to bedrock 8 to 22 inches, and mean annual soil temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F. The A11 horizon is dry most summers for more than 60 consecutive days. The A horizon colors dry are in 7.5YR, 5YR and 2.5YR hues and have values of 3 and 4. Moist hues are 5YR and 2.5YR and 10R with values of 2 and 3. Chromas are 3 to 6 dry and 2 to 4 moist. Texture ranges from stony clay and silty clay to stony heavy clay loam; structure from strong to medium granular, and reaction from slightly acid to neutral. The B2 horizons are strong brown dry and dark reddish brown to reddish brown when moist. Hues are 7.5YR, 5YR and 2.5YR with values of 4 and 5 dry and 3 and 4 moist. Chromas are 6 dry and 4 moist. The B2 horizons have slightly finer textures than the A horizons and have weaker structure.

COMPETING SERIES: These include the Goulding, Permanente, Toomes and Cornutt series. The Goulding and Permanente soils are brown and skeletal, the Toomes soils are brown, and the Cornutt soils are deep and have clay argillic horizons.

SETTING: The Huse soils occur on gently to steeply sloping uplands under shrub and conifer vegetation. They formed in weathered material from peridotite and similar rocks. Elevations are about 1,500 to 2,500 feet. The climate is humid mesothermal with mean annual rainfall of 50 to 100 inches, with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F., average January temperature about 40 degrees F., and average July temperature about 65 degrees F.

PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: Huse soils occur in the same general areas as the Cornutt, Dubakella and Josephine soils.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to excessively drained. Permeability through the solum is rapid; through the underlying bedrock permeability is very slow. Runoff is moderate.

USE AND VEGETATION: Very limited use for forestry. Used mostly for watershed.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains. The soils are inextensive.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mendocino County, California, 1950.

REMARKS: The Huse series was formerly classified in the Lithosol group. The current classification is based on an ochric epipedon (values of 4 moist), a lithic contact, cambic horizon, and a dry summer climate where the upper part of the epipedon is dry more than 60 consecutive days.

OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 2/66.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.