LOCATION HUXLEY                  NV

Established Series
Rev. ELS/WA/JVC
05/2016

HUXLEY SERIES

The Huxley series consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils that formed in lacustrine deposits derived from mixed rocks. Huxley soils are on lake terraces. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 127 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal over sandy or sandy-skeletal, smectitic over mixed, mesic Typic Natrargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Huxley gravelly clay loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface has an erosional pavement of lithoid tufa fragments ranging from 1 to 8 cm in diameter.

A--0 to 5 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) gravelly clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine tubular and many very fine vesicular pores; about 25 percent tufa gravel; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

Btn1--5 to 10 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate very fine and fine subangular blocky; hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine interstitial pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; about 35 percent tufa gravel; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 15 cm thick)

Btn2--10 to 15 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly clay, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate very fine subangular blocky; hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine interstitial pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; about 40 percent weathered tufa gravel; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 20 cm thick)

Bk--15 to 23 cm; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) very gravelly clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine interstitial pores; about 40 percent weathered tufa gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 cm thick)

2C1--23 to 30 cm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) fine sand, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly effervescent; many medium and large prominent dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) masses of iron and manganese accumulation; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 15 cm thick)

2C2--30 to 152 cm; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) stratified fine sand and very fine sand, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine interstitial pores; common medium and large prominent dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) masses of iron and manganese accumulation; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6).

TYPE LOCATION: Churchill County, Nevada; about 16 miles north of Fallon and 3 miles north-northeast of Upsal Hogback; approximately 800 feet north and 1,500 feet east of the southwest corner of section 7, T. 21 N., R. 29 E.; USGS Upsal Hogback 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 41 minutes 49.3 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 46 minutes 21.4 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.6970278 latitude, -118.772611 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Moist from December through April, dry from May through November; typic aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 14 degrees C.
Depth to base of natric horizon: 10 to 25 cm.
Depth to strongly contrasting horizons: 20 to 38 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 35 to 50 percent in the upper part and 0 to 3 percent in the contrasting lower part;
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent in the upper part, mainly gravel composed of tufa. Tufa is a chemical sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate and silica and deposited from solution in the water of springs adjacent to lakes.

A horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Salinity (EC): 16 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 45

Btn and Bk horizons
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Very gravelly clay loam or very gravelly clay.
Clay content: 35 to 50 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent.
Consistence: Hard or very hard dry, moderately sticky or very sticky and moderately plastic or very plastic wet.
Salinity (EC): 16 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 45
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent.
Other features: Some pedons have a discontinuous tufa layer below or in the Btn2 or Bk horizons.

2C horizons
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Stratified very fine sand to coarse sand; some pedons have thin lenses of loamy sand.
Rock fragments: 0 to 15 percent, some pedons have gravelly substrata.
Structure: Single grain or massive.
Salinity (EC): 8 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 30.
Effervescence: Noneffervescent to strongly effervescent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 1 percent.
Other features: Relict redox concentrations are present as few to many, fine to large, prominent masses of iron and/or manganese accumulation.

COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Huxley soils are on lake terraces. They formed in lacustrine deposits derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. Elevations range from 1158 to 1219 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 150 mm, the mean annual temperature is 11 to 13 degrees C., and the frost-free period is 120 to 140 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Hooten and Gardella soils. Hooten soils are loamy-skeletal, shallow to thin duripans, and occur on adjacent lake terraces and beach terraces. Gardella soils are sandy, very shallow and shallow to thin duripans, and occur on adjacent lake terraces.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Moderately well drained; moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity in the natric horizon and very high saturated hydraulic conductivity in the underlying sandy material.

USE AND VEGETATION: Huxley soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly black greasewood and seepweed.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 3,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 27.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Churchill County, Nevada (Fallon-Fernley Area), 1971.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 5 cm (A horizon).
Natric horizon - The zone from 5 to 15 cm (Btn1 and Btn2 horizons).
Major lithologic discontinuity - The abrupt change to sandy material at 23 cm (between the Bk and 2C1 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 5 to 100 cm (Btn1, Btn2, Bk, and 2C1 horizons and part of the 2C2 horizon).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.