LOCATION LIMBER                  CO+UT WY

Established Series
Rev. RFB-RHM-KLS
01/2023

LIMBER SERIES

The Limber series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in colluvium and slope alluvium over residuum derived from limestone bedrock. These soils are on upland hills, ridges, and mountain slopes. Slopes are 2 to 60 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 510 mm, and mean annual air temperature is about 2 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryalfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Limber loam - forest. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

Oi--0 to 5 cm; undecomposed organic matter consisting primarily of bark, needles, twigs, and grasses.

Oe--5 to 8 cm; partially decomposed organic material like that of the horizon above.

E--8 to 16 cm; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) moist; weak thin platy structure that parts to moderate fine granules; soft, very friable; 5 percent limestone gravel; slightly acid (pH6.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

Bt--16 to 46 cm; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) gravelly light clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable; many thin patchy clay films on horizontal and vertical faces of peds; 20 percent limestone gravel and stones; neutral (pH 7.0); gradual smooth boundary. (25 to 40 cm thick)

BC--46 to 64 cm; light brown (7.5 6/3) loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable; few thin patchy clay films; 30 percent flagstone and gravel of limestone; calcareous; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 25 cm thick)

CBk--64 to 89 cm; pink (7.5YR 7/3) loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable; 30 percent flagstone and gravel of limestone; visible secondary calcium carbonate occurring mostly in finely divided forms, and as coatings on the stone fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (15 to 50 cm thick)

R--89 to 109 cm; limestone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Gunnison County, Colorado; just south of Goldcup Mine in sec. 30, T. 15 S., R. 81 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--3 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--8 degrees C
Thickness of O horizon--10 cm or more
Thickness of solum--40 to 80 cm
Depth to calcareous material--15 to 50 cm
Depth to bedrock--50 to 100 cm
Organic carbon content in the surface horizon--0.3 to 4 percent, decreasing uniformly with depth
Base saturation--90 to 100 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent--10 to 30 percent, including gravel fragments
Rock fragment content--15 to 35 percent above the bedrock and are predominantly gravel in the upper horizons but stones in the lower horizons

E horizon
Hue--10YR or 7.5YR
Value--6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma--2 through 4
Structure--weak subangular blocky
Consistence, dry--soft to slightly hard
Reaction--pH 6.5 to 7.5
The E horizon is thin and continuous in most pedons and does not tongue into the Bt horizon.

Bt horizon
Hue--7.5YR through 2.5YR
Value--5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma--2 through 4
Structure--medium to fine subangular blocky structure
Consistence, dry--hard to very hard
Texture--heavy loam or light clay loam
Clay content--18 to 35 percent
Sand content--15 to 40 percent, with 15 to 35 percent being fine sand or coarser
Reaction--pH 6.5 to 7.5

CBk horizon
Hue--10YR or 7.5R
Reaction--pH 8.0 to 8.6
Calcium carbonate equivalent--5 to 20 percent, but is typically less than 15 percent or the horizon is either too thin or lacks the necessary differentiae to be a calcic horizon

COMPETING SERIES: Series of the same family that have lithic contacts at depths of less than 100 cm are the Edloe, Sapphire, Schofield, Shule, Swapps and Woodrock series. Sapphire, Schofield, Shule, and Woodrock soils lack horizons with secondary carbonate accumulation. Edloe soils have more than 35 percent coarse fragments the control section. Swapps soils lack an albic horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform--upland hills, ridges, and mountain slopes
Elevation--2600 to 3350 meters
Slope--2 to 60 percent
Parent material--colluvium and/or slope alluvium over residuum derived from limestone bedrock
Mean annual precipitation--510mm with peak periods of precipitation during the spring and summer
Mean annual air temperature--0 to 4 degrees C
Frost-free period--40 to 75 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is medium to rapid, and permeability is moderate

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for forestry, native pastureland, or recreational purposes. Principal native vegetation includes spruce, fir, aspen, kinnikinnick, vaccinium, peavine, and mountain brome.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Limber soils are moderately extensive in the mountainous areas of central Colorado, northcentral Wyoming and central Utah; MLRAs 43B, 48A.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Piedra Area, Colorado, 1974

REMARKS: Converted to metric and O horizons were updated to start at zero. Competing series section was not updated. 01/2023

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.