LOCATION KEESE                   TX

Established Series
Rev. JEA-HCD-CLG
10/2016

KEESE SERIES

The Keese series consists of well drained shallow soils to bedrock that formed in residuum weathered from granite, granite grus, or gneiss of pre-Cambrian age. These gently sloping to steep soils are on shoulders, summits and backslopes of ridges and hills. Slope ranges from 1 to 30 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 18.3 degrees C (65 degrees F), and mean annual precipitation is about 686 mm (27 in).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, thermic, shallow Typic Haplustepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Keese coarse sandy loam--native rangeland.
(Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 13 cm (0 to 5 in), brown (7.5YR 4/4) coarse sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard, very friable; nonsticky; nonplastic; common fine roots; common fine pores; 8 percent, non-flat, subrounded, indurated, 2 to 75 mm, granite gravel; few fragments of granite 200 to 380 mm (8 to 15 in) across the long axis; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (Thickness of the A horizon is 10 to 30 cm [4 to 12 in])

Bw1--13 to 25 cm (5 to 10 in); brown (7.5YR 4/4) coarse sandy loam,, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; common fine roots; 10 percent, non-flat, subrounded, indurated, 2 to 75 mm, granite gravel; few fragments of granite 200 to 380 mm (8 to 15 in) across the long axis; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Bw2--25 to 36 cm (10 to 14 in); strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) gravelly coarse sandy loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable; common fine roots; 20 percent, non-flat, subrounded, indurated, 2 to 75 mm, granite gravel; 2 percent, non-flat, angular, indurated, 200 to 380 mm, granite fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 15 to 41 cm [6 to 16 in])

Cr--36 to 61 cm (14 to 24 in); reddish brown weathered ; moderately cemented granite bedrock (bedrock and grus material) with fragments up to 100 mm (4 in) in diameter

TYPE LOCATION: Llano County, Texas; From the intersection of Texas Highway 16 and Ranch Road 152 in Llano, about 18 miles west on Ranch Road 152 (just southeast of the town of Castell), 3.3 miles south on County Road 105, and 400 feet east in rangeland.
USGS topographic quadrangle: Castell, Texas;
Latitude: 30 degrees, 39 minutes, 17.79 seconds N;
Longitude: 98 degrees, 56 minutes, 38.507.0 seconds W;
Datum: NAD83

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Typic ustic moisture regime
Depth to paralithic contact: 25 to 50 cm (10 to 20 in)
Solum thickness: 25 to 50 cm (10 to 20 in)
Surface fragments: 2 to 15 percent by area

Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 5 to 20 percent
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent total; 5 to 30 percent by volume, 2 to 75 mm, feldspar and quartz; 2 to 12 percent by volume, 250 to 510 mm, granite and/or gneiss

A horizon
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 5 to 6, 4 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6, dry and moist
Other features: In pedons where moist value and chroma are 3 or less, the epipedon is not thick enough for a mollic epipedon.
Texture: coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or their gravelly counterparts
Clay content: 5 to 20 percent
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent by volume
Reaction (pH): Moderately acid to slightly acid (5.6-6.5)

Bw horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6 dry and moist
Texture: coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam or their gravelly counterparts
Clay content: 5 to 20 percent
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent by volume
Reaction (pH): Moderately acid to slightly acid (5.6-6.5)

C layer (where present)
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 or 6, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6, dry and moist
Texture: extremely gravelly coarse sandy loam, extremely gravelly sandy loam, or extremely gravelly fine sandy loam
Rock fragments: 70 to 90 percent by volume
Reaction (pH): Moderately acid to slightly acid (5.6-6.5)

Cr layer
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 6, dry and moist
Kind: granite bedrock and/or tightly packed grus
Cementation: Weakly cemented to strongly cemented, becomes harder with depth
Vertical fractures: Greater than 10 cm (4 in) apart horizontally

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Spikebox series in the same family. Similar soils include the Cordell, Dugout, Nebgen, and Yates series.
Cordell soils: have a lithic contact with sandstone between 25 and 50 cm (10 and 20 in).
Dugout soils: have carbonatic mineralogy and are 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 in) to lithic limestone bedrock.
Nebgen soils: are 10 to 36 cm (4 to 14 in) to lithic contact of sandstone bedrock and do not have a cambic horizon.
Spikebox soils: are 20 to 50 cm (8 to 20 in) to a paralithic contact with sandstone bedrock.
Yates soils: are 10 to 36 cm(4 to 14 in) to lithic contact with limestone, have no cambic horizon, and have more than 35 percent coarse fragments in the control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Residuum weathered from granite, granite grus, or gneiss
Landscape: Dissected plain
Landform: Shoulders, summits and backslopes of ridges and hills
Slope: 1 to 30 percent, but dominantly 1 to 8 percent slopes
Precipitation Pattern: The majority of the yearly amount occurs during the fall and spring months. The winter and summer months are normally drier.
Mean annual precipitation: 635 to 813 mm (25 to 32 in)
Thornthwaite P-E index: 34 to 46
Mean annual air temperature: 17.8 to 19.4 degrees C (64 to 67 degrees F)
Frost-free period: 210 to 240 days
Elevation: 243.8 to 609.6 m (800 to 2,000 ft)

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Castell, Click, Katemcy, Ligon, Lou, and Voca series.
All of these soils are greater than 50 cm (20 in) deep to bedrock.
Castell, Katemcy, and Voca soils: occur on footslopes of undulating plains, ridges and hills.
Click soils: occur on shoulders and summits of hills and ridges.
Lou soils: occur on similar positions.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderately rapid in the solum and moderately slow in the underlying bedrock. Runoff is medium on 1 to 5 percent slopes, high on 5 to 20 percent slopes, and very high on slopes greater than 20 percent.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used entirely for rangeland. Native vegetation on better ranges is mostly little bluestem, purpletop, and sand lovegrass with scattered post oak and live oak trees. The vegetation on poorer ranges is mostly Texas persimmon, ash, juniper, tasajillo, threeawn grass, and numerous forbs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Texas; Southwest Plateaus and Plains Range and Cotton Region, LRR-I; MLRA 82A-Texas Central Basin. This series is of large extent with over 150,000 acres.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gillespie County, Texas; 1970.

REMARKS: These soils are in the active cation exchange activity class based on NSSL data (S86TX-299-003).

Edited 10/2016 (RFG-LAD): Updated competing series, geographic setting, and associated soils sections.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 13 cm (0 to 5 in) (A horizon)
Cambic horizon: 13 to 36 cm (5 to 14 in) (Bw horizon)
Paralithic contact: 36 cm (14 in), top of Cr layer

ADDITIONAL DATA: Lab data available from the National Soil Survey Laboratory on pedon numbers 86TX299002 (samples 86P01740-86P01743) and 86TX299003 (samples 86P01744-86P01748) from Llano County, TX.

Taxonomic Version: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 12th Edition, 2014.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.