LOCATION MCCAFFERY MT+WYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, frigid Lamellic Ustipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: McCaffery loamy fine sand - open stand of ponderosa pine. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
0i--0 to 1 inch; leaf litter and organic mat.
E1--1 to 10 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loamy fine sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable; common fine roots; common fine and medium tubular pores; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
E2--10 to 25 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) loamy fine sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable; common fine and coarse roots; few fine and medium tubular pores; three 1/2 inch thick lamellae of fine sandy loam; mostly clear unstained sand grains; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary.
E3--25 to 37 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) loamy fine sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable; few fine roots; few fine and medium tubular pores; four 1/2 inch thick lamallae; mostly clear unstained sand grains; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (E horizon is 20 to 40 inches thick)
E&B--37 to 66 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) loamy fine sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable; few brown (10YR 5/3) fine sandy loam ands in 1/2 to 2 inch thick wavy pattern, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; few medium and fine roots with branching above lamellae; few fine tubular pores in coherent fine sandy loam bands; common clay bridging of sand grains in bands; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Mineral County, Montana; Clarks Fork Valley; 1,300 feet east and 1,450 feet south of the NW corner sec. 16, T.17N., R.27W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: McCaffery soils have mean annual soil temperature ranging from 44 degrees to 47 degrees F. and have average summer soil temperature ranging from 60 degrees to 64 degrees F. The E2 and E&B horizons are loamy fine sand or fine sand with 2 to 10 percent clay and 5 to 15 percent coarser than medium sand. Depth to E&B horizons ranges from 20 to 40 inches and these consist of lamellae of fine sandy loam in loamy fine sand or of loamy fine sand in fine sand. The lamellae are discontinuous 1/4 to 2 inch bands that make up from 10 to 15 percent of the matrix between depths of 3 to 5 feet. The E horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR, value of 6 through 8, and chroma of 2 through 4. It is slightly or moderately acid. The E&B horizon is neutral or slightly acid. The B horizon portion has value of 5 or 6.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Woodgulch series. Woodgulch soils have an A horiozn with 5 to 35 percent rock fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: McCaffery soils are on rolling or sloping high lacustrine benches or river terraces in intermountain valleys. They formed in sandy sediments that in some parts have been reworked by wind. The sandy sediments are associated with varved silt and clays as well as stratified very gravelly and cobbly sand deposits. The climate is cool subhumid. The mean annual temperature ranges from 44 degrees to 46 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 15 to 30 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Entente and Half Moon soils on similar physiographic positions in the valleys. Entente soils are coarse-silty and Half Moon soils are fine-silty. Krause soils are sandy-skeletal and Neville soils are fine-loamy. Krause and Neville soils are on smooth benches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Timber production and wildlife habitat is the dominant use. Used to a limited extent for dryland, pasture, and hay. Native vegetation is mainly Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine with an understory of pinegrass, kinnikinnick, Oregongrape, and snowberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: McCaffery soils are inextensive in intermountain valleys of western Montana.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Upper Flathead Valley Area, Montana, 1958.