LOCATION KANIKSU ID+WA

Established Series
Rev. CJW/RWL/RJS
10/2016

KANIKSU SERIES

The Kaniksu series consists of very deep, well-drained soils formed in glacial outwash mixed with minor amounts of loess and volcanic ash in the surface. These soils are on outwash plains and terraces and have slopes of 0 to 40 percent.

The mean annual precipitation is about 30 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, isotic, frigid Vitrandic Haploxerepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Kaniksu ashy sandy loam - on a slope of 2 percent in a forested area, at 2,350 feet elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described, the soil was dry throughout.)

0i--0 to 1/2 inch; needles, leaves and twigs.

0a--1/2 inch to 1; decomposed organic matter.

A--1 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) ashy sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine, fine, and few medium roots; many very fine irregular and common fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel, slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)

E&Bt1--8 to 14 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) ashy sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common discontinuous 1/8 to inch thick wavy bands of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam (lamellae, Bt part), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine, common fine irregular, and few fine tubular pores; few thin clay films on faces of peds in lamellae; 5 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear wavy boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)

E&Bt2--14 to 20 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common discontinuous 1/8 to inch thick wavy bands of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam (lamellae, Bt part), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine irregular and tubular pores; few thin clay films on faces of peds in lamellae; 5 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.6); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 18 inches thick)

E&Bt3--20 to 27 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common discontinuous and few continuous 1/8 to inch thick wavy bands of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand (lamellae, Bt part), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine irregular and few fine tubular pores; few thin clay films on faces of peds in lamellae; 15 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 13 inches thick)

E&Bt4--27 to 48 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; single grain; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common discontinuous 1/8 to inch thick wavy bands of yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loamy sand (lamellae, Bt part), dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; few fine roots; common very fine irregular and few very fine tubular pores; few thin clay bridges in lamellae; 15 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.0); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick)

C--48 to 61 inches; variegated gravelly sand; single grain; loose; very porous; many fine interstitial pores; 30 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.0).

TYPE LOCATION: Bonner County, Idaho; about 5 miles northwest of Blanchard; 100 feet north and 600 feet west of the southeast corner, sec. 25, T. 55 N., R. 6 W. Latitude - 48 degrees, 4 minutes, 46.43 seconds N.; Longitude - 117 degrees, 1 minute, 32.44 seconds W.; NAD 83; USGS Tweedie ID, WA quadrangle

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to loamy sand, loamy fine sand or sand textures - 12 to 24 inches
Rounded coarse fragments of mixed lithology in profile - 0 to 30 percent (increases with depth)
Mean annual soil temperature - 44 to 46 degrees F
Moisture control section - usually moist, but is dry between depths of 8 and 24 inches for 45 to 75 days (45 to 60 days in the grand fir association and 60 to 75 days in the Douglas fir association)
Volcanic ash influence - 7 to 20 inches thick
Estimated properties of the volcanic ash influenced layers:
Volcanic glass content in the 0.02 to 2mm fraction - 5 to 30 percent
Acid-oxalate extractable Al plus 1/2 Fe - 0.40 to 1.0 percent
Moist bulk density - 1.15 to 1.35 g/cc
15 bar water retention - 5 to 10 percent on air dried samples

A horizon
Value - 4 to 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma - 2 to 4 dry or moist
Texture - ashy sandy loam, ashy loam, or ashy fine sandy loam
Gravel content - 0 to 10 percent
Reaction - moderately acid or slightly acid

Bw horizon present in some pedons

E&Bt horizon
E part (90 to 95 percent of horizon)
Hue - 10YR or 2.5Y
Value - 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma - 3 or 4 dry or moist
Texture - ashy sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy sand or fine sandy loam in the upper part, loamy sand or sand in the lower part
Gravel content - 0 to 20 percent
Reaction - slightly acid or neutral
Bt part (5 to 10 percent of horizon)
Value - 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma - 4 or 6 dry or moist
Texture - sandy loam or loamy sand
Total thickness of lamellae is less than 6 inches

C horizon
Hue - 10YR, 2.5Y or variegated
Value - 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma - 3 or 4 dry or moist
Texture - loamy sand or sand
Gravel content - 0 to 35 percent
Reaction - slightly acid or neutral

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Torboy series. Torboy soils do not have E&Bt horizons.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kaniksu soils are on glacial outwash plains and terraces and have slopes of 0 to 40 percent. Elevations range from 1,900 to 2,600 feet. The soils formed in mixed glacial outwash with a minor influence of loess and volcanic ash in the surface. The soils are in a subhumid climate with warm, dry summers and cold, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 20 to 35 inches. The mean January temperature is 25 degrees F; mean July temperature is 65 degrees F; and the mean annual air temperature is 42 to 49 degrees F. The frost-free season is 90 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bonner, Kootenai, Rathdrum, Selle, Stapaloop, and Treble soils. Bonner, Kootenai, and Treble soils have more than 35 percent coarse fragments in the lower part of the control section. Bonner and Kootenai soils are on terraces and terrace escarpments. Treble soils are on mountains, foothills and escarpments. Rathdrum soils are ashy, have a udic soil moisture regime, and are in depressions on glacial outwash plains and terraces. Selle soils have base saturation less than 60 percent, have a udic soil moisture regime, and are on undulating or dune-like glaciolacustrine terraces. Stapaloop soils are coarse loamy, have E&Bt horizons and are on terraces and footslopes and toeslopes of foothills.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow or medium runoff; moderately rapid permeability in the solum and rapid in the underlying material.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for timber production, grazing, wildlife habitat, homesites, recreation, and some small grains, hay, and pasture. Some of these soils are irrigated. Potential natural vegetation is mainly grand fir, Douglas-fir, western larch, lodgepole pine and scattered ponderosa pine with an understory of pine reedgrass, princes pine, long tube twinflower, low Oregon-grape, strawberry, Indian hemp dogbane, rose, bearberry, mallow ninebark, and common snowberry.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Idaho and eastern Washington. MLRA 44. The series is moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bonner County, Idaho, 1981.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 8 inches (Oi, Oa, and A horizons)
Cambic horizon - 8 to 20 inches (E& Bt1 and E& Bt2 horizons)
Lamellic feature - 8 to 48 inches (E&Bt1, E&Bt2, E&Bt3, and E&Bt4 horizons)
Particle-size control section - 11 to 41 inches (part of the E&Bt1, the E&Bt2, the E&Bt3, and part of the E&Bt4 horizons)

The revision 9/03 reflects an updated profile description based on re-visiting the original type location and updating the description to proper horizonation for soils with Lamellae.

The extent of the Kaniksu series needs further investigation in Pend Oreille County where the modal pedon appears to have a coarse loamy particle size.

Classification revised 6/99 from Sandy, mixed, frigid Typic Xerochrepts to sandy, mixed, frigid Vitrandic Dystroxerepts.

Classification revised 03/2004 from Vitrandic Dystroxerepts to Vitrandic Haploxerepts based on lab data from the associated Kootenai series in Bonner County, Idaho. The Kaniksu and Kootenai soils were mapped within the same geographic area. Investigation is needed to confirm the base saturation and the Haplo vs. Dystroxerepts classification of the Kaniksu series.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Partial laboratory data available for Soil Survey Sample Numbers: S02ID-017-001 Bonner County, ID and S02WA-063-001 Spokane County, Washington. NSSL Pedon Numbers: 03N0288 and 03N0289.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.