LOCATION KLINE WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Vitrandic
Xerofluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Kline gravelly sandy loam - on a 5 percent west-facing slope in pasture at 180 feet elevation. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 4 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) gravelly sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 30 percent pebbles; medium acid (pH 5.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)
C1--4 to 9 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) gravelly sandy loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) dry; massive; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 20 percent pebbles; medium acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
2C2--9 to 20 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) extremely gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; single grain; loose; many very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 70 percent pebbles; medium acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 20 inches thick)
2C3--20 to 29 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very gravelly loamy sand, light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) dry; single grain; loose; common very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 60 percent pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
2C4--29 to 60 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) very gravelly sand; pale brown (2.5Y 6/3) dry; single grain; loose; very few very fine roots; many fine irregular pores; 60 percent pebbles; strata of very gravelly sandy loam at 30 to 31 inches and at 47 to 48 inches; slightly acid (pH 6.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Whatcom County, Washington; about 1 1/2 miles northwest of Deming; 1,300 feet north and 1,400 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 25, T. 39 N., R. 4 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 54 degrees F. Depth to the 2C horizon ranges from 8 to 20 inches. These soils are usually moist, but are dry in the moisture control section for 45 to 60 consecutive days following summer solstice. By weighted average the control section has 45 to 75 percent rounded pebbles and cobbles. Reaction is medium acid or slightly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y, value of 2 through 4 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 1 through 4 moist and dry.
Some pedons have B horizons.
The C1 horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5 moist, and 5 or 6 dry. The fine earth fraction is sandy loam or loam. It has 15 to 60 percent pebbles and cobbles.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 1 through 4 moist and dry. The fine earth fraction is sand or loamy sand with thin strata of sandy loam or very fine sandy loam. It has 50 to 90 percent pebbles and cobbles. Strata of sandy loam or very fine sandy loam 10 to 30 inches thick occur below the control section in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Notus series in another family. They have mottles at a depth of 7 to 20 inches and are dry for more than 60 consecutive days following summer solstice.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kline soils are on alluvial fans at elevations of 100 to 1,000 feet. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in alluvium from glaciated uplands. Kline soils are in a marine climate with warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Snow cover is intermittent. Average annual precipitation is 40 to 70 inches. Mean January temperature is 36 degrees F.; mean July temperature is 62 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is about 50 degrees F. The frost-free season is 140 to 210 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Barneston, Briscot, Oridia, Squalicum, Sumas, and Whatcom soils. Barneston soils lack an irregular decrease in organic carbon and are influenced by volcanic ash in the upper part. Briscot, Oridia, and Sumas soils have an aquic moisture regime and are not skeletal. Squalicum soils are medial. Whatcom soils are medial over loamy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow runoff; very rapid permeability. Unless protected these soils have very brief occasional flooding. Water table is at 3 to 5 feet during January through April and drops rapidly as snow melt runoff decreases.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for pasture, hay, woodland, cropland and homesites. Native vegetation is principally Douglas-fir, western hemlock, red alder, and western redcedar with an undergrowth of salal, red huckleberry, western swordfern, western brackenfern, trailing blackberry, Oregon-grape, northern twinflower, and northern bedstraw.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West slopes of the Cascade Mountains in northwestern Washington. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Whatcom County, Washington, 1942.
REMARKS: Classification only changed 4/94 because of recent amendments to Soil Taxonomy.