LOCATION LAXAL                   NV

Established Series
Rev. CEJ/RLB/JBF
06/2016

LAXAL SERIES

The Laxal series consists of very deep, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Laxal soils are on inset fans, fan piedmonts and fan skirts. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Durinodic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Laxal gravelly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 13 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few medium roots; many very fine, fine and common medium vesicular pores; 20 percent gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 20 cm thick)

Bqk1--13 to 25 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) very gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) carbonate and silica coats on the underside of gravel; 40 percent fine and medium sized gravel that are primarily platy in shape; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 40 cm thick)

Bqk2--25 to 56 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam with thin strata of clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) carbonate and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) silica coats on undersides of gravel; 50 percent gravel; discontinuous weak cementing of the gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); clear smooth boundary. (15 to 50 cm thick)

Bqk3--56 to 152 cm; gray (10YR 6/1) very gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) and light gray (10YR 7/2) carbonate and very pale brown (10YR 7/4) silica coats on undersides of gravel; 50 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; 2 miles southeast of Wall Canyon; 1/2 mile west and .3 mile south of the northeast corner of section 6, T. 9 N., R. 43 E.; USGS Pablo Canyon Ranch 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 40 minutes 17 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 11 minutes 36 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.6715000 latitude, -117.1936111 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, but moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Reaction: Strongly alkaline or very strongly alkaline.
Effervescence: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.
Other features: Buried very gravelly clay loam Bt horizon or gravel layers are below a depth of 100 cm in some pedons.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 5 to 10 percent.
Rock fragments: Average 35 to 60 percent, mainly gravel, when averaged.

A horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry, 2 through 4 moist.

Bqk horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry, 2 through 4 moist.
Texture: Stratified very gravelly fine sandy loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam and loamy coarse sand, commonly with thin strata of sand and clay loam. Averages fine sandy loam, sandy loam, or coarse sandy loam after mixing.
Cementation: Discontinuous weak silica bridging rock fragments, in some subhorizons above 100 cm.
Other features: Common carbonate and silica coats and pendants on undersides of rock fragments.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Wintermute series. Wintermutte soils have soil temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees C. and are not moist for 10 to 20 days in the summer.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Laxal soils are on fan piedmonts, alluvial fans, inset fans and fan skirts. These soils formed in alluvium derived from shale, siltstone and undifferentiated Tertiary volcanics. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Elevations are 1,370 to 1,890 meters. The climate is cool, semiarid with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 125 to 200 mm, mean annual temperature is 11 to 14 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 100 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Broyles, Penelas, and Tomel soils. Broyles soils are coarse-loamy and have durinodes in a friable matrix. Penelas soils have a paralithic contact. Tomel soils have a duripan at shallow depths.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat excessively drained; medium runoff; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is principally galleta, shadscale, King desertgrass, bud sagebrush, Nevada ephedra, and sand dropseed.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. The soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 29

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (Big Smoky Valley Area), Nevada, 1972.

REMARKS; Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A and part of Bqk1).
Duric feature - The zone from 25 to 56 cm (The Bqk2 horizon).
Calcic horizon - The zone from 13 to 152 cm (The Bkq horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 25 to 100 cm (Bqk2 and part of theBqk3 horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.