LOCATION LOONY WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy over loamy, glassy over mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Vitrixerands
TYPICAL PEDON: Loony ashy loam - on a northwest facing 7 percent slopes, at 3,700 feet elevation, under a mixed lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and western larch canopy. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; needles, twigs, cones.
A--1 to 4 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) ashy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots, common medium roots, few coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear wavy boundary. (l to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--4 to 9 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) ashy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine, fine and medium roots, few coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.3); gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--9 to 18 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) ashy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots, common fine, medium and coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.4); gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 10 to 16 inches.)
2CB--18 to 29 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) cobbly sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine, fine and coarse roots, common medium roots; 10 percent pebbles and 10 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.6); gradual wavy boundary.
2Cd1--29 to 44 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) dense glacial till that breaks to sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist, massive; hard, firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; 5 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear wavy boundary.
2Cd2--44 to 51 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) dense glacial till that breaks to silt loam, light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) moist; massive; very hard, very firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 5 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 7.0); clear wavy boundary.
2Cd3--51 to 60 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) dense glacial till that breaks to loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; massive; very hard, very firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Colville Indian Reservation, Okanogan County, Washington; about 7 miles northeast of the town of Disautel; 200 feet north and 1,300 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 31, T. 34 N., R. 30 E., W.M.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches is 44 to 46 degrees F. These soils are usually moist but are dry between depths of 8 and 24 inches for 60 to 75 consecutive days following the summer solstice. The upper 14 to 20 inches of the 0 to 40 inch particle-size control section has an estimated moist bulk density of 0.75 to 0.85 g/cc, volcanic glass content of 30 to 60 percent, acid-oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half of the acid-oxalate extractable iron of 1.0 to 2.0 percent, and 15-bar water retention of 5 to 12 percent for air dried samples. Depth to densic material is 20 to 40 inches. The content of rock fragments throughout the particle-size control section averages 5 to 25 percent. Reaction ranges from slightly acid in the surface layer and subsoil to neutral in the substratum.
The A horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moint. It is 0 to 10 percent pebbles.
The Bw horizon has value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4 dry or moist. It is 0 to 10 percent pebbles.
The 2CB horizon has5 to 15 percent cobbles and 10 to 25 percent pebbles.
The 2Cd horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 7 or 8 dry, 5 or 6 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4 dry or moist. It is silt loam, loam, or sandy loam with lenses of loamy sand or sand, and may be gravelly or cobbly. It is 5 to 25 percent pebbles and 2 to 5 percent cobbles. Moist bulk density is 1.70 to 2.00 with an RV of 1.85 g/cc.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Eloika, Louploup and Tillicum series. Louploup soils are more than 40 inches deep. Eloika soils are dry for 45 to 60 consecutive days and have many distinct redox features in the 2C horizon. Tillicum soils are fine sandy loam and sandy loam in the Bw horizon and have 10 to 40 percent weathered schist or gneiss rock fragments in the lower part of the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Loony soils are on till plains and toeslopes of mountains. These soils formed in volcanic ash over dense or compacted glacial till. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent on primarily west, north and east facing aspects. Elevations range from 2,500 to 4,000 feet. The climate is characterized by warm, dry summers and cold, moist winters. The average annual precipitation is 18 to 27 inches. The mean January temperature is about 22 degrees F, mean July temperature is about 64 degrees F, and the mean annual air temperature is about 43 degrees F. The frost-free season is 90 to 120 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Aits, Louploup, Martella, Merkel, Nevine, Republic, Sacheen, Scrabblers, Stapaloop, Stepstone, and Torboy soils. These soils are deep or very deep. Nevine soils are ashy over loamy-skeletal, and Stepstone soils are medial over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Merkel soils are loamy-skeletal, and Aits, Republic, and Stapaloop soils are coarse-loamy. Sacheen, Scrabblers and Torboy soils are sandy. Martella soils are fine-silty.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow to medium runoff; moderate permeability to the paralithic contact, moderate over slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Timber production, wildlife habitat, watershed, and grazing are the principal uses. The native vegetation is Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, western larch, lodgepole pine, pinegrass, kinnikinnick, pachystima, white spiraea, common snowberry, dwarf huckleberry, longtube twinflower, woods rose, Virginia and woodland strawberry, Saskatoon serviceberry, western meadowrue, and sweetscented bedstraw.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northcentral Washington. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Colville Indian Reservation, Okanogan County, Washington, 1987.
REMARKS: Diagnostic features recognized in this soil are an ochric epipedon from the mineral surface to 4 inches, a cambic horizon from 4 to 18 inches, a volcanic ash mantle from the mineral surface to 18 inches, a densic contact at 29 inches and 22 percent rock fragments in the lower part of the particle-size control section. The description reflects a change in classification from ashy over loamy, mixed, frigid Typic Vitrixerands to ashy over loamy, glassy over mixed, superactive frigid Typic Vitrixerands.