LOCATION KECKSROAD CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Kecksroad silty clay loam - on a slope of 10 percent in rangeland under red brome and filaree, at an elevation of 780 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on 11/7/78 the soil was dry 0 to 5 inches and slightly moist below 5 inches.)
A11--0 to 2 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/3) silty clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium prismatic and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, sticky and very plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular and interstitial and few very fine vesicular pores; strongly effervescent (2 percent calcium carbonate), disseminated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A12--2 to 11 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse prismatic and weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and very plastic; many very fine roots; few fine and many very fine tubular pores; few pressure faces; strongly effervescent (3 percent calcium carbonate), disseminated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
B21t--11 to 26 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; few fine tubular and common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; few thin clay films in pores; violently effervescent (5 percent calcium carbonate), lime disseminated and segregated in few fine irregularly shaped soft masses; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); gradual smooth boundary. (9 to 16 inches thick)
B22tca--26 to 36 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, sticky and very plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular and few very fine interstitial pores; common thin clay films in pores and on peds; 10 percent pebbles; violently effervescent (7 percent calcium carbonate), lime disseminated and segregated in common fine irregularly shaped soft masses; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
Cr--36 to 40 inches; white (5Y 8/1) and light olive gray (5Y 6/2) moist; slightly hard weathered shale fragments; firm when moist; 50 to 20 mm in size and angular or subangular in shape; shale fragments are noncalcareous but lime coated; fragments are in approximately normal orientation with some soil in vertical cracks.
TYPE LOCATION: Kern County, California; about 0.6 mile due east of Devil's Den and about 350 feet northwest of an unimproved road in the northeast 1/4, southeast 1/4, northwest 1/4 of section 20, T. 25 S., R. 18 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a paralithic contact is 20 to 40 inches. The soil between depths of 6 and 17 inches is dry in all parts from April 15 until December 1 and is moist in some part for less than 60 consecutive days in winter. Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 62 degrees to 66 degrees F. The soil is slightly to violently effervescent throughout the profile. Carbonates are usually disseminated in the surface horizons and segregated in the lower horizons. Gravel content ranges from 0 to 10 percent and is usually less than 25 mm in diameter.
The A horizon has dry color of 10YR 7/3, 6/4, 6/3, 5/4, or 5/3 and moist color of 10YR 5/4, 5/3, 4/4, or 4/3. It is silty clay loam, clay loam, or clay. Clay percentage is 30 to 45. Reaction is mildly or moderately alkaline. EC x 1000 ranges from 0.2 to 1. Organic matter content is less than 1 percent. Structure is moderate to strong blocky or prismatic. Some areas have a surface horizon less than 1-inch thick that has platy structure.
The B2t horizon has dry color of 10YR 7/3, 6/6, 6/4, 6/3, or 5/4 and moist color of 10YR 5/6, 5/5, 5/4, 5/3, 4/4, or 4/3. It is clay loam, silty clay loam, or clay. Clay percentage is 35 to 50. The increase in clay from the A horizon to the B2t horizon is 3 to 6 percent. Reaction is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline. EC x 103 is less than 2. Structure is subangular blocky or prismatic. In some pedons there is a C horizon above the paralithic contact.
The C horizon has dry color of 10YR 7/3, 6/6, 6/4, 6/3, or 5/4 and moist color of 10YR 5/6, 5/4, 4/4, or 4/3. It is clay loam, silty clay, or clay. Clay percentage is 35 to 50. EC x 103 ranges from 0.2 to 1. Structure is weak or moderate blocky; some horizons are structureless.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Marconi and Ubar series in the same family and the Bousic, Cima, and the Twisselman series in other families. Marconi soils have 2.5YR and 5YR hues. Ubar soils are greater than 40-inches deep and moist in the moisture control section between July and September. Bousic and Twisselman soils are deep and lack a cambic horizon. Cima soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kecksroad soils are on low rounded hills with slopes ranging from 5 to 50 percent. The soils formed in material weathered from sedimentary rock, dominantly shale. Elevations are 450 to 1,400 feet. The climate is arid with long, hot, dry summers and cool somewhat moist winters. Mean annual rainfall is 6 to 8 inches. Mean January temperature is 46 degrees F., mean July temperature is 85 degrees F., mean annual temperature is 61 degrees to 64 degrees F. The frost-free season is 225 to 275 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Kettleman, Carollo, and Bitterwater (T) soils. Carollo soils have a natric horizon. Kettleman soils are fine-loamy. Bitterwater soils are coarse-loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium or rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for spring grazing by cattle or sheep. Vegetation is annual grasses and forbs, and is within the San Joaquin saltbush vegetation type of the Kuchler map.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills on the east side of the Temblor Range in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley of California. The soil is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kern County, Northwestern Part, California, 1982.