LOCATION LITTSAN WYTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Haplargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Littsan fine sandy loam - rangeland (Colors are for air dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; Light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak fine crumb structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; neutral (pH 7.2); clear smooth boundary (2 to 4 inches thick).
B21t--2 to 10 inches; Pale brown (10YR 6/3) sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium angular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; patches of thin waxy coatings on some ped faces, clay bridges between sand grains; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary (5 to 10 inches thick)
B22t--10 to 14 inches; Pale brown (10YR 6/3) sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium angular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; waxy coatings on sand grains and clay bridges between sand grains; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary (3 to 6 inches thick).
C1--14 to 24 inches; Pale brown (10YR 6/3) sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak medium angular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; very few fine roots; mildly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary (10 to 20 inches thick).
IIC2--24inches; Gray, calcareous, soft shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Sublette County, Wyoming; SW 1/4, SW1/4, Sec. 36, T31N, R109W9W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 36 degrees to 47 degrees F. The mean summer soil temperature is 59 degrees to 62 degrees F. Depth to soft calcareous shale is 20 to 40 inches. Depth to the base of the B2t is 10 to 15 inches. The soils commonly are noncalcareous throughout. A few pedons are weakly calcareous in the lower part of the C horizon. The A1 horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR; value of 4 through 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist; and chroma of 2 or 3 dry and moist. It is neutral or mildly alkaline fine sandy loam or very fine sandy loam. The B2t horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, value of 5 or 6 dry and 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 3 or 4 dry and 2 or 3 moist. It is neutral or mildly alkaline sandy loam averaging between 10 and 18 percent clay and more than 50 percent fine sand or coarser. Hue of the C horizon is 5Y through 10YR. It is mildly alkaline or moderately alkaline. It ranges from sandy loam to loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same subgroup and family. Similar series is the tentative Cotha series. Cotha soils are moist in some part of the soil moisture control section for more than one fourth but less than one-half the time.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Littsan soils are on rolling uplands. Slopes are 3 to 10 percent. They formed in sandy, noncalcareous, wind-born sediments. Mean annual temperature is 34 degrees to 45 degrees F. Annual precipitation is 6 to 9 inches. Elevation is 6,000 to 7,000 feet. The growing season is 80 to 110 days, but frost may occur in any month.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the tentative Bodorumpe soils. Bodorumpe soils lack an argillic horizon and have a loamy sand control section. They are mainly on lee slopes of sidehills.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is big sagebrush, needleandthread, Indian ricegrass, and thickspike wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Wyoming. The series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES PROPOSED: Sublette County, Wyoming; 1973. The name is a coined name.
OSED scanned by NSSQA. Last revised by state on 2/73.
REMARKS:
The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.