LOCATION MARSING IDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Xeric Torriorthents
TYPIFYING PEDON: Marsing loam, cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 9 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; very weak very fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; slightly calcareous; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C1ca--9 to 15 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common fine and medium roots; common very fine tubular pores; moderately calcareous; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
C2ca--15 to 23 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; moderately calcareous and few spots of segregated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)
IIC3--23 to 40 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly coarse sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grained; loose; moderately calcareous; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Owyhee County, Idaho; about 2 miles southeast of Marsing; 850 feet east and 100 feet north of the southwest corner of the SE1/4 sec. 3, T.2N., R.4W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 degrees to 54 degrees F., and the mean summer soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches ranges from 66 degrees to 74 degrees F. These soils are usually dry, but are continually moist between depths of 8 and 24 inches for 60 to 80 days in late winter and spring. The entire profile is slightly gravelly (usually less than 15 percent fine gravel) in some pedons. A strongly contrasting layer of sand or sand and gravel is within 40 inches of the surface but below depth of 20 inches. The Ap has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. The A horizon is neutral to moderately alkaline and noncalcareous to moderately calcareous between depth of 10 inches and the loose sand and gravel (or at least 20 inches), the soil material is loam, silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or gravelly loam and it contains less than 18 percent clay and more than 15 percent but less than 50 percent particles coarser than very fine sand. The Cca horizon is mildly to strongly alkaline, is moderately calcareous and contains less than 15 percent calcium carbonate. In some pedons, the Cca horizon contains few, firm, rounded nodules (cicada) krotovinas of soil material 0.5 to 1.5 inches in diameter. The IIC horizon is slightly or moderately calcareous and mildly to strongly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES AND ThEIR DIFFERENTIAE: These are the Cencove, Emerson, Heist, Lolalita, and Myton series. Cencove soils have fine sandy loam or sandy loam above the sand and gravel. Emerson and Lolalita soils are moderately coarse textured and are noncalcareous to depth of 24 inches or deeper. Lolalita soils lack contrasting substrata above depth of 40 inches. Heist soils have 7.5YR hue, are strongly calcareous, have weakly lime-cemented horizons, and lack loose sand and gravel above depth of 40 inches. Myton soils have strongly calcareous Cca and weakly lime-cemented horizons.
SETTING: Marsing soils are on level to strongly sloping terraces, alluvial fans, and bottom lands at elevations of 2,200 to 4,500 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent but are dominantly 0 to 5 percent. The soils formed in mixed alluvium derived mostly from quartzic, basaltic, and rhyolitic materials. The climate is semiarid and has dry summers. Mean freeze-free period is 110 to 170 days; mean annual precipitation of 7 to 11 inches, including 5 to 20 inches of snow.
PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Minidoka and Baldock soils. Minidoka soils have an indurated duripan. Baldock soils have mottles above depth of 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow or medium runoff; moderate permeability in the A and Cca horizons and very rapid permeability in the underlying coarse materials.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly irrigated and cropped to alfalfa, clover, corn, sugar beets, small grains and pasture. Noncultivated areas support big sagebrush, cheatgrass, shadscale, Sandberg bluegrasses and forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Idaho. Moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Owyhee County, Idaho, 1973.
REMARKS: Classified formerly as a Regosol.