LOCATION KYDESTEA                AZ+UT

Established Series
Rev. DJP/RJA/CLG
10/2013

KYDESTEA SERIES

The Kydestea series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils on hillslopes. These soils formed in slope alluvium. Slopes are from 2 to 60 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 15 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 51 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Aridic Lithic Ustorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Kydestea very channery sandy clay loam-grazable woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 1 inch; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very channery sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thick platy structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine vesicular pores; 55 percent sandstone channers; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)

C1--1 to 5 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very channery sandy clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 45 percent sandstone channers and 10 percent flagstones; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)

C2--5 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) extremely channery sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 60 percent sandstone channers and 5 percent flagstones; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)

C3--10 to 15 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely channery sandy clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 60 percent sandstone channers and 5 percent flagstones; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)

2R--15 inches; fractured sandstone.

TYPE LOCATION: Navajo County, Arizona; about 8 miles west of Cottonwood Spring, 0.3 miles north of the Black Mesa pipeline; about 2,990 feet west and 2,250 feet north of the intersection of metric coordinates 4016 N. and 521 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December-February and July-September. This soil is in the Aridic Ustic soil moisture regime.

Soil temperature: 48 to 54 degrees F.

Depth to bedrock: 4 to 20 inches

Rock fragments: more than 35 percent gravel, channers and flagstones, flagstones average less than 15 percent

Percent clay in control section: averages 18 to 35 percent clay

Carbonates: less than 15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent

Some soils have a Bw horizon too thin to qualify as a cambic horizon

A horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 1 to 6, dry and moist

C horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 6 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6 dry, 2 to 4 moist
Texture: sandy clay loam, sandy loam, clay loam, fine sandy loam
Reaction: slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bunkin (UT), Colskel (UT) and Metuck (AZ) series. The Bunkin soils has soil temperatures less than 51 degrees F. The Metuck soils average less than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section, average more than 15 percent calcium carbonate, and have hue redder than 7.5YR. Colskel soils are inactive.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kydestea soils are on rolling to steep hillslopes. These soils formed in slope alluvium and colluvium derived dominantly from sedimentary rocks. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. Elevation is 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The average annual precipitation is 14 to 18 inches, the average annual air temperature is 46 to 52 degrees F, and the average frost-free period is 120 to 150 days. The climate is cool, semi-arid and continental. Precipitation falls as intense summer thunderstorms and gentle winter rain or snow.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Begay, Mido, Penistaja, Tonalea (P), Travessilla, and Zyme soils. Begay and Penistaja are deep soils on undulating plateaus. Mido and Tonalea (P) soils have sandy particle-size control sections. Travessilla soils contain less than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Zyme soils are non-skeletal, fine-textured, and shallow to soft shale.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability is moderately slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Kydestea soils are used for grazable woodland, fuel wood and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is Utah juniper and pinyon pine with an understory of Bigelow sagebrush, Stansbury cliffrose, green Mormon tea, Indian ricegrass, galleta, and bottlebrush squirreltail.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Arizona and southern Utah. This series are moderately extensive. MLRA is 35; LRR-D.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Navajo County, Arizona, 1985. Hopi Soil Survey Area

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 1 inch (A horizon)

Lithic contact - boundary at 15 inches (R layer)
Some soils have a BW horizon too thin to qualify as a cambic horizon

Laboratory data furnished by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Soils
Laboratory in Gallup, New Mexico.

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eleventh Edition, 2010

Updated and revised for the correlation of Ft. Defiance Area AZ715 2/08 DWD

Update competing series section 4 Dec 2008 CEM

Update and revised for the correlation of Capitol Reef National Park, January 2013, WWJ

Updated and revised for the correlation of Walnut Canyon National Monument, May 2013, CEM

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.