LOCATION JOSEPHINE OR+CA
Established Series
Rev. AON/LFM/RWL
09/2021
JOSEPHINE SERIES
The Josephine series consists of deep, well drained soils that formed in colluvium and residuum weathered from altered sedimentary and extrusive igneous rocks. Josephine soils are on broad ridgetops, toeslopes, footslopes, and side slopes of mountains. Slopes are 2 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haploxerults
TYPICAL PEDON: Josephine gravelly loam, forested and on a 55 percent slope. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches; partially decomposed litter of needles and leaves.
A--2 to 5 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) gravelly loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and very fine and common medium roots; many irregular pores; 25 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
BA--5 to 11 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and very fine and common medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; 15 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
Bt1--11 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) clay loam, pink (7.5YR 7/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine, fine and medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films; 10 percent partially weathered gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.1); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bt2--18 to 34 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay loam, pink (7.5YR 7/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine, fine and medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films; 10 percent partially weathered gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 24 inches thick)
Bt3--34 to 44 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) clay loam, reddish yellow (5YR 6/6) dry; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and plastic; many very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films; 12 percent partially weathered gravel; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
BC--44 to 53 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) gravelly clay loam, reddish yellow (5YR 6/6) dry; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; many very fine tubular pores; 20 percent partially weathered gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.9); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
BCt--53 to 61 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) gravelly clay loam, reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) dry; massive; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) clay films in joints; common black stains; 20 percent angular saprolitic gravel and 30 percent hard angular gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.9); gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
Crt--61 inches; saprolitic siltstone; red clay films and black stains in fractures; very strongly acid (pH 4.9).
TYPE LOCATION: Josephine County, Oregon; about 7 miles south of Selma near the east fork of McMullin Creek; about 520 feet north and 130 feet east of the SW corner of sec. 33, T. 38 S., R. 7 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are dry during the summer for 60 to 90 consecutive days in Oregon and 90 to 110 in California in all parts of the moisture control section. The soils also are moist during the winter. The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 56 degrees F. Depth to bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Uncoated sand and silt coatings are common on faces of peds in the upper part of the B horizon in some pedons.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 2 through 4 moist and 5 or 6 dry and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It has 10 to 30 percent soft rock fragmants and 15 to 30 percent gravel. It is strongly acid to slightly acid.
The BA horizon has hue of 10YR through 5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 5 to 7 dry, and chroma of 4 through 6 moist and dry. It has 15 to 30 percent soft rock fragmants and 15 to 30 percent gravel.
The Bt horizon has hue of 5YR or 2.5YR moist and 7.5YR or 5YR dry, value of 3 through 5 moist, 4 through 8 dry, and chroma of 4 through 6 moist and dry. It averages 27 to 35 percent clay and 0 to 35 percent partially weathered and unweathered gravel. It has weak or moderate structure and few to common, faint to distinct clay films. It is slightly acid to very strongly acid with acidity decreasing with depth.
The BC horizon has similar ranges in color and texture but gravel content is 15 to 50 percent. It is gravelly clay loam, gravelly silty clay loam, very gravelly clay loam or very gravelly silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Acker,
Diamond Springs and
Jocal series. Acker soils have a Bt horizon with moist hue yellower than 7.5YR and are dry for 45 to 60 consecutive days. Diamond Springs soils are 24 to 40 inches deep to a paralithic contact, have a Bt horizon dominantly yellower than 7.5YR hue and are structureless. Jocal soils are dry for 90 consecutive days or more during the summer.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Josephine soils are on broad ridgetops, toeslopes, footslopes, and side slopes of mountains. Elevations are 200 to 4,000 feet in Oregon and up to 5,500 in California. Slope gradients dominantly are 35 to 60 percent but range from 2 to 75 percent. The soils formed in moderately fine textured colluvium and residuum weathered from sedimentary, metamorphosed sedimentary, and volcanic rocks. The climate consists of hot, dry summers and warm, moist to wet winters. The mean annual precipitation is typically 30 to 60 inches but may range up to 70 inches in California and up to 100 inches in the interior mountains of Curry County, Oregon. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 54 degrees F in Oregon and as high as 58 degrees F in California. The average January temperature is about 35 degrees F, and the average July temperature is about 65 degrees F. The frost-free period is about 100 to 235 days in Oregon and as many as 260 days in California.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Beekman,
Colestine,
Pollard,
Speaker and
Vermisa soils. Beekman, Colestine and Vermisa soils lack an argillic horizon and are less than 40 inches deep to bedrock. Pollard soils occupy gently sloping to moderately steep terraces and are clayey in the control section. Speaker soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Woodland, wildlife habitat and water supply. Native vegetation is Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, Pacific madrone, California black oak, tanoak, incense cedar, sugar pine, cascade Oregongrape and common snowberry in Oregon, and in California the dominant tree is ponderosa pine.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Klamath mountains of southern Oregon (MLRA 5) and in the Sierra Nevada in northern California (MLRA 22). The series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Josephine County, Oregon, 1919.
REMARKS: The areas identified as Josephine in the Sierra Nevada Range (MLRA 22) in California have been correlated to the Jocal series. Upon revision of the MUUF file for California, references to California in this series description will be removed.
CEC activity class superactive added 1/2000, competing series not updated at that time.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Argillic horizon - from 11 to 44 inches (Bt1, Bt2, and Bt3 horizons)
Particle-size control section - from 11 to 31 inches (Bt1 horizon and part of Bt2 horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Characterization data on two profiles (S69-Oreg-17-1 and 17-2) reported in Riverside Laboratory print-outs for soils sampled in Jackson and Josephine Counties, Oregon in 1969. Profile S69-Oreg-17-1 is the typical pedon.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.