LOCATION LISAM ND+MT UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, smectitic, calcareous, frigid, shallow Aridic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Lisam clay - on a southeast-facing slope of 5 percent under native grass. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. Where described the soil was moist throughout.)
A--0 to 3 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) clay, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to strong fine granular; very hard, firm, sticky and very plastic; common very fine and fine roots; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
C1--3 to 9 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) clay, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; weak coarse and moderate medium subangular blocky structure parting to moderate fine angular blocky; extremely hard, firm, sticky and very plastic; few fine and medium roots; common fine pores; many fine gypsum crystals; few platy shale fragments; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
C2--9 to 15 inches; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) clay and partly weathered platy shale, olive gray (5Y 5/2) moist; weak coarse and fine subangular blocky structure parting to fine platy; extremely hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots; common fine gypsum crystals; slight effervescence; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
Cr--15 to 60 inches; light olive gray (5Y 6/2) platy shale, olive gray (5Y 5/2) moist; rubs to a clay texture; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) stains on some surfaces; sheets of thin gypsum crystals in the shale; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Bowman County, North Dakota; about 19 miles south of Marmarth; NE1/4 of NE1/4, sec. 6, T. 129 N., R. 106 W; 755 feet west of Highway 16 and about 180 feet south of the gas line pumphouse.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The depth to a paralithic contact of shale or claystone ranges from 10 to 20 inches. The soil is clay or silty clay averaging more than 50 percent clay.
The A horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 5 or 6 dry and 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 1 to 3. In pedons where the A horizon has value of less than 5.5 dry and 3.5 moist, it is less than 4 inches thick.
The C horizon contains lime and gypsum.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Yawdim series in the same family and the Cabbart and Dilts series. Yawdim soils average between 35 to 50 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Cabbart soils are loamy. Dilts soils are acid.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lisam soils are on undulating to very steep sedimentary plains. Slope gradients range from 3 to 70 percent. The Lisam soils formed in clayey material weathered from alkaline shale or claystone. The mean annual temperature ranges from 40 to 45 degrees F, and the mean annual precipitation from 12 to 18 inches. Most of the moisture falls in the spring and summer.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Dilts and Yawdim soils and the Eltsac and Thebo soils. Dilts and Yawdim soils are on nearby uplands. Eltsac and Thebo soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches. They are below the Lisam soils on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium or rapid. Permeability is slow or very slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for rangeland. The native vegetation is primarily western wheatgrass with some annual forbs and sagebrush in places.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern North Dakota and eastern and central Montana. The soil is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Denver, Colorado
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bowman County, North Dakota, 1969.
REMARKS: Revised 11/92.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 3 inches (A horizon).