LOCATION LAVELDO NV

Established Series
Rev. WGH
01/2023

LAVELDO SERIES

The Laveldo series consists of deep, moderately fine-textured Soloschaks on lake bars or embankments in the Red Desert soils zone. Parent material is from a wide mixture of rocks. Laveldo soils are well- and moderately well-drained but lime carbonate in the profile has accumulated during periods of imperfect drainage. Present vegetation consists of a very sparse stand of small individual plants of creosote and white bursage. These soils have a weak erosion pavement of hard lime fragments and nodules. Below this is a thin vesicular A2, a thin weak prismatic moderately fine-texturet Bk horizon high in medium platy lime-cemented fragments over massive Bk horizons. A1 horizons are high in salts and pH ranges from 9 at the surface to 8 in the substratum. These soils have resisted erosion and usually protrude 2 to 4 inches above adjoining soils at the crest of lake-formed bars.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, carbonatic, thermic Petronodic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Laveldo clay (virgin). The immediate surface has a weak erosion pavement of angular and subangular lime fragments and somewhat elongated lime nodules that range up to about 3/8 inch in diameter and 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length.

A2--0 to 2 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) clay loam reddish brown (5YR 4/4) when moist; compound moderate medium prismatic and weak coarse to medium platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, sticky, plastic; practically devoid of plant roots; many fine and medium vesicular pores; strongly calcareous; strongly alkaline (pH 8.9); abrupt wavy lower boundary. ( 1 to 3 inches thick)

Bk1--2 to 4 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) when moist; compound weak medium prismatic and moderate medium platy structure; matrix is slightly hard, very friable, sticky, plastic and plates are very hard to extremely hard and very firm; practically devoid of plant roots; common fine and medium cavities on discontinuous pores in platy material, many very fine and fine interstitial pores; very strongly calcareous; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt wavy lower boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)

Bk2--4 to 8 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) when moist; massive; soft, very friable, sticky, plastic; no plant roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; very strongly calcareous with common fine and medium distinct white flecks of nodular lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy lower boundary.

Bk3-- 8 to 60 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) when moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; without plant roots; few to common fine and medium tubular pores; very strongly calcareous with many very pale brown (10YR 8/2) hard to extremely hard, angular to subangular lime nodules and lime fragments and occasional angular fragments of crystal lime gypsum that range up to about 1 inch in diameter; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).

TYPE LOCATION: 800 feet East of the W cor., Sec. 3, T. 24 S., R. 63 E., and about 10 miles southwest of Boulder City, Nevada.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Hue of the three uppermost horizons ranges from 5YR to 7.5YR.

The C3 horizon may be uniform in content of lime nodules or may consist of few to several layers differing significantly from 15 to about 50 percent nodules. The nodules are usually somewhat angular to subangular, many are teat-like on the outer sides and some are branched, like antlers. Occasional nodules range up to 2 inches in diameter.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series at this time.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Smooth nearly level surface, broken in places where the surface horizons have been removed by water erosion. These soils usually occur as long strips 200 to 300 feet in width and 300 feet to about 1/4 mile in length on the crest of lake-formed bars. Laveldo soils occur at approximately 1,700 feet above sea level in a warm desert climate where the annual precipitation is about 5 inches; the average January temperature 45 degrees F., July 86 degrees F.; the mean annual F., and the average annual growing season about 240 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Associated soils are Ireteba, which are usually immediately above, and Mead soils which are immediately below the Laveldo. No other Solonchaks are known to have horizons comparable to those of this series. A total of 507 acres of this soil occurs in Eldorado Valley of Clark County, Nevada.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well- and moderately well-drained. Runoff is moderate to rapid and permeability is slow to very slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: In its present condition these soils are not use. About 2 percent of these soils supports a sparse stand of small individual plants of creosote and white bursage. The rest is barren.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Very limited in extent. 507 acres occur in Eldorado Valley, Clark County, Nevada.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Las Vegas and Eldorado Valleys soil Survey area, Clark County, Nevada, 1956. Laveldo is coined from Las Vegas and Eldorado.

OSED Scanned by NSSQAS last state edit 2/60

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.