LOCATION LOCEY OR
Tentative Series
Rev. GDM/BBL/TDT
01/2023
LOCEY SERIES
The Locey series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in colluvium-residuum over shale. These soils are on uplands and have slopes of 12 to 65 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 47 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is about 11 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Xeric Paleargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Locey loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1--0 to 3 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate thin platy structure; soft, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many fine roots; few very fine pores; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
A2--3 to 9 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium to fine subangular blocky structure; soft, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine roots; few very fine pores; neutral (pH 7.0); gradual clear boundary. (5 to 6 inches thick)
BA--9 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium prismatic structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine roots; few very fine pores; neutral (pH 7.1); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bt1--16 to 26 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) silty clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; strong fine blocky structure; hard, firm, very sticky, very plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine pores; many thick clay films on faces of peds; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bt2--26 to 30 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; strong fine blocky structure; hard, firm, very sticky, very plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine pores; many thick clay films on faces of peds; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
R--30 inches; fractured shale bedrock; coatings of line and silica on underside of fragments immediately beneath the Bt2.
TYPE LOCATION: Malheur County, Oregon; about 16 miles west of Brogan, 1,700 feet west and 650 feet south of NE corner of section 26, T. 14 S., R. 40 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually dry between 4 to 12 inches for more than 90 consecutive days following the summer solstice. The mean annual soil temperature is 49 to 51 degrees F. Depth to bedrock is 20 to 40 inches. Rock fragments in the solum are less than 3 inches in diameter.
The A horizon has value of 5 to 6 dry and 3 to 4 moist, and chromas of 2 dry and 3 moist. It is loam or shaley loam. It has 0 to 25 percent shale gravel.
The Bt horizon has values of 3 or 4 moist and dry and chromas of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is silty clay or clay with 40 to 60 percent clay. It has 0 to 15 percent shale gravel.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Acoma,
Borda (T),
Bowns,
Brent,
Chardoton, Deodar,
Gooding,
Phing,
Reba,
Sorf,
Termo, and
Verdico series. The Acoma, Borda, Brent, Chardoton, Deodar, Phing, Reba, Sorf and Termo soils are deep. Bowns soils have an E horizon and are calcareous in the substratum. Verdico soils have a paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Locey soils are on uplands having slopes of 12 to 65 percent. They are at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 feet. The climate is semiarid with a mean annual precipitation of 10 to 12 inches with hot dry summers and cold winters. The average January temperature is about 26 degrees F. The average July temperature is about 68 degrees F. The mean annual temperature ranges from 45 to 49 degrees F. The average frost-free period is 100 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Poall,
Ruckles, and
Virtue series. Poall soils have thin A horizons over fine textured sediments more than 40 inches deep. Ruckles soils are clayey-skeletal and are 10 to 20 inches to basalt bedrock. Virtue soils are on terraces and have duripans.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is slow or medium on the gentle slopes and rapid on the steeper slopes. Permeability is slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Locey soils are used for range and wildlife. Native vegetation is bluebunch wheatgrass, Thurber needlegrass, Sandberg bluegrass, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush and wild crab apple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Malheur County and southeastern Baker County, Oregon. The series is of limited extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES PROPOSED: Malheur County, Oregon, 1957.
REMARKS: This is an update of the IRD dated 5/2/72.
NSTH 17, RECLASSIFICATION ONLY, 3/95
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.