LOCATION KICKERVILLE WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, isotic, mesic Typic Haplorthods
TYPICAL PEDON: Kickerville silt loam - on a 1 percent south facing slope in pasture at 130 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted. All textures are apparent field textures.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) dry; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic, weakly smeary; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 5 percent pebbles; NaF pH 11.5; medium acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
Bs1--9 to 22 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) silt loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic, weakly smeary; common very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 5 percent pebbles; NaF pH 12.0; medium acid (pH 6.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (9 to 17 inches thick)
2Bs2--22 to 32 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) very gravelly loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic, weakly smeary; few very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 40 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; NaF pH 12.0; slightly acid (pH 6.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
3C1--32 to 42 inches; variegated, dominantly olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) and dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) extremely gravelly sand, light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) and light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) dry; single grain; loose; many very fine irregular pores; 60 percent pebbles; NaF pH 12.0; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 30 inches thick)
3C2--42 to 60 inches; variegated but dominantly dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very gravelly sand, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; single grain; loose; many very fine irregular pores; 50 percent pebbles; NaF pH 11.5; neutral (pH 6.7).
TYPE LOCATION: Whatcom County, Washington; about 4 miles northeast of Lynden 50 feet north and 700 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 2, T. 40 N., R. 3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil moisture control section is usually moist but is dry in all parts for 45 to 60 consecutive days within the four months that follow the summer solstice in 6 or more years out of 10. Mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. Depth to the 3C horizon is 20 to 36 inches. The upper 14 to 24 inches of the soil is essentially nongravelly. Rock fragments increase with depth averaging 0 to 10 percent pebbles in the upper part of the solum and 35 to 65 percent pebbles and 0 to 5 percent cobbles in the lower part of the solum and substratum. The weighted average rock fragments in the particle-size control section is 25 to 35 percent.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry.
The Bs1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 4 through 6 moist and dry. Rock fragments range from 0 to 10 percent. It is loam or silt loam.
The 2Bs2 horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is very gravelly loam, extremely gravelly loam, very gravelly silt loam, or very gravelly sandy loam. Reaction is medium acid or slightly acid.
The 3C horizon is variegated but has general hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It is very gravelly loamy sand, extremely gravelly sand, or very gravelly sand. Reaction is medium acid through neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Bullards, Chuckanut, Comar, Nati, Sehome, and Squalicum series. Bullards soils have an isomesic temperature regime and lack a very gravelly 2Bs horizon. Chuckanut and Squalicum soils are loamy and less than 35 percent rock fragments throughout the particle-size control section. Comar soils are 15 to 80 percent weathered pebblss by weighted average in the particle-size control section. Nati and Sehome soils are 20 to 40 incheds deep to a paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kickerville soils are on outwash terraces and outwash plains at elevations of 50 to 300 feet. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in loess, volcanic ash, and glacial outwash. Kickerville soils are in a marine climate with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Snow cover is intermittent. Average annual precipitation is 35 to 55 inches, which falls mostly between October and May. Each of the summer months has at least one inch of rainfall. Mean January temperature is 36 degrees F; mean July temperature is 62 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is 50 degrees F. The frost-free season is 150 to 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Barnhardt soils and the Birchbay, Clipper, Everett, Laxton, Lynden, Pangborn, and Shalcar soils. Birchbay and Clipper soils have 2 chroma mottles within the control section. Everett soils are sandy-skeletal. Laxton and Lynden soils are sandy. Pangborn and Shalcar soils are Histosols.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very slow to medium runoff; moderate permeability in the solum, and very rapid in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for cropland. Common crops are berries, hay and pasture. Some is used for timber production and homesites. Native vegetation is Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western redcedar and red alder with an understory of western swordfern, salal, red huckleberry, Oregon-grape, and creambush oceanspray.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Washington. The series is moderately extensive
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Whatcom County, Washington, 194l.
REMARKS: This draft reflects a change in classification from medial, mesic Andic Xerochrepts to coarse-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Haplorthods. Characterization data are available on this pedon. Laboratory number S81WA-073-15. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are an ochric epipedon from the surface to 9 inches and a spodic horizon from 9 to 32 inches. The spodic horizon does not meet chemical criteria for a spodic horizon, but does meet micro morphological criteria, i.e. cracked coatings and silt-sized pellets.