LOCATION MAYMEN CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, mesic, shallow Typic Dystroxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Maymen sandy clay loam, on a south west facing 25 percent slope under a cover of Chamise at an elevation of 1760 feet. When described the soil was dry throughout. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 2 inches, (0 to 6 cm); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) broken face gravelly sandy clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) broken face moist; 22 percent clay; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 20 percent angular strongly cemented 2 to 75 millimeter schist fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.6 by pH meter 1:1 water; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--2 to 7 inches, (6 to 17 cm); brown (7.5YR 5/4) broken face gravelly sandy clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) broken face moist; 24 percent clay; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 25 percent angular strongly cemented 2 to 75 millimeter schist fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.5 by pH meter 1:1 water; clear smooth boundary.
Bw2--7 to 10 inches, (17 to 25 cm); brown (7.5YR 5/4) broken face gravelly sandy clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) broken face moist; 24 percent clay; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine irregular pores; 30 percent angular strongly cemented 2 to 75 millimeter schist fragments; strongly acid, pH 5.3 by pH meter 1:1 water; abrupt smooth boundary. (combined Bw horizons are 3 to 14 inches thick)
Cr--10 to 15 inches, (25 to 38 cm); schist bedrock; Hard, highly fractured schist, fractured 2 to 5 cm, 2% soil material in cracks near upper boundary, becomes more solid with depth, fragments are 3 to 6 cm with some up to 10 cm.
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Clara County, California, Page Mill Road at Gate 4 of Foothill Park, through gate up hill to west, south on small trail about 100 feet then south into brush., In an unsectionized area of Township 7S, Range 3W, Northing 4133542, Easting 572451, Zone 10, NAD83 - U.S.G.S Quad: Mindego Hill, California.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to highly fractured paralithic bedrock contact is 10 to 20 inches. The bedrock usually has some soil material between fragments in the upper few inches of the paralithic contact.
The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 59 degrees F. The soil between a depth of 6 inches and the paralithic contact is dry in all parts from mid May or June through September or early October and is moist in all parts from November through May. The particle size control section averages 10 to 27 percent clay, and 3 to 35 percent rock fragments.
Reaction is very strongly acid through slightly acid and tends to become more acid with increasing depth. The epipedon is either too thin or has too little organic matter, or both, to qualify as a mollic epipedon. Base saturation by sum of cations method ranges from 35 to 75 percent based on lab data from Maymen and similar soils and pH. Rock fragments on the surface range from 0 to 30 percent gravel.
The A horizon dry color is 10YR 6/6, 5/6, 6/4, 6/3, 6/2, 5/4, 5/3, 5/2, 4/3, 4/2; 7.5YR 7/4, 6/6, 6/4, 5/6, 5/4 or 4/4. Moist color is 10YR 5/4, 5/3, 5/2, 4/4, 4/3, 4/2, 3/4, 3/3, 3/2, 2/2; 7.5YR 5/8, 5/6, 5/4, 5/2, 4/6, 4/4, 4/3, 4/2, 3/4 or 3/2. Texture is loam, sandy clay loam, silt loam or sandy loam or their gravelly equivalents as well as stony sandy clay loam or fine sandy loam. .
The Bw horizon dry color is 10YR 7/3, 6/6, 6/6, 6/3, 6/2, 5/6, 5/4, 5/3, 5/2, 4/4, 4/3, 4/2; 7.5YR 7/4, 6/6, 6/4, 5/8, 5/6, 5/4 or 4/4. Moist color is 10YR 5/5, 5/4, 5/3, 4/4, 4/3, 3/3; 7.5YR 5/6, 5/4, 5/2, 4/6, 4/4, 4/3, 3/4 or 2.5/3. Texture is loam, sandy clay loam, sandy loam, silt loam or loam and their gravelly equivalents and gravelly fine sandy loam. The Bw horizon has weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure. Some pedons have a slight increase in clay over the A horizon but not enough to qualify as an argillic horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Chawanakee series. The Chawanakee series has coarse sand, loamy coarse sand and coarse sandy loam textures developed in residuum from Quartz diorite and granodiorite low in mafic minerals. Chawanakee soils are in MLRA 22.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Maymen soils are on mountains and have slopes of 5 to 100 percent, elevations are 400 to 4,250 feet. Underlying bedrock is consolidated sandstone, shale or conglomerate. The climate is moist subhumid with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 22 to 70 inches. Average January temperature is 47 degrees F., average July temperature is about 68 degrees F., and mean annual temperature is about 52 to 59 degrees F. Frost free period is about 130 to 330 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Etsel, Gaviota, Laughlin and Sheetiron soils. Laughlin and Sheetiron soils are more than 20 inches deep to bedrock. Etsel soils have loamy skeletal textural control sections. Gaviota soils have a thermic temperature regime.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; high to very high runoff; moderate to moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is usually open stands of chaparral consisting of chamise, Manzanita, several species of ceanothus, several species of scrub or dwarf oak and scattered small trees in protected sites such as drainages or north slopes.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The soils are extensive and are mapped in the coast ranges of northern and central California. MLRA?s: 5, 15
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Santa Barbara County, California, 1945.
REMARKS: During MLRA updating, those map units of Maymen mapped in MLRA 20 and 22 need to be separated from Maymen in MLRA 5 and 15 with the establishment of a new series. Type location for Maymen moved because original location was not accessible or locatable. This site was judged to be the concept of Maymen as mapped in the coast ranges. The bedrock contact was redefined due to the common fine fracturing, resulting in changing the classification from lithic to typic. Lithic determinations of the 1970s is questionable by 21st century standards..
Particle Size Control Section for this pedon: 1.6 to 12 in. (4 to 31 cm). The soil moisture control section is dry in all parts from about May 15 to October 15 (about 150 days).
ADDITIONAL DATA: University of California, Davis, Morphology Lab Pedon # 56CA11026 and 58CA52029. Also NSSL S78CA033033. NASIS Site and Pedon 08ca085641213