LOCATION MOANO AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, mesic Lithic Ustic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Moano gravelly loam - grassland (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; moderate very fine and fine granular structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; noneffervescent; neutral (pH 7.2); clear irregular boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick).
C--3 to 9 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) gravelly heavy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and plastic; many fine and medium and few coarse roots; many fine interstitial pores; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear irregular boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick).
Cr--9 to 14 inches; olive (5Y 4/4) to olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) hard vertically oriented phyllite and schist bedrock with thin tongues of soil material in fractures (soil material is slightly heavier than in the B horizon); common fine roots in fractures; common thin clay coatings on rock faces; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear irregular boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick).
R--14 to 15 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) extremely hard schist bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona. 2/10 mile E. and 1/ 10 mile S. of NW corner of Sec. 23, T12N, R1E, about 1 mile NE of Mayer, Arizona.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock: 6 to +16 inches but may be 20 inches in some areas, due to variability in hardness of the parent rock.
Reaction: slightly acid to moderately alkaline due to the variability of the parent rock.
Mean annual soil temperature: 52 degrees to 58 degrees F.
Soil moisture: These soils are usually dry especially during the months of May, June, October and November. Ustic aridic moisture regime.
A horizon
Hue: 10YR and 7.5YR
Value: 4 and 5 dry and 3 and 4 moist
Chroma: 2 through 4
Texture: gravelly loam and very gravelly loam
Structure: weak platy to granular
C horizon
Hue: 10YR through 5YR
Value: 4 through 6 dry and 3 and 4 moist
Chroma: 4 through 6
Texture: gravelly loam and gravelly light clay loam Structure: usually massive or rock controlled but may range to weak subangular blocky
Gravel content: 15 to 35 percent by volume
Clay coatings may or may not be present in the C&R horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Moret (WY) series. Moret soils have a lithic contact of slate-like shale.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Moano soils are on gently rolling to steep schist hills with slopes ranging from 8 to 60 percent. These soils are formed in place on phyllite or schist bedrock and are at elevations of 4000 to 5500 feet in a semiarid continental climate. The average annual precipitation ranges from 10 to 14 inches and occurs mainly as rain in July, August and September and as rain and some snow in January and February. The mean annual temperature ranges from 50 degrees to 57 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Balon, Dandrea, Lynx and Showlow in addition to the Arp and Barkerville series. Balon soils have an argillic horizon. The Dandrea and Showlow soils are deep, have fine-textured control sections and argillic horizons. Lynx soils are deep and have a mollic epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained with medium runoff. Permeability of the soil is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used entirely as rangeland. Vegetation at higher elevations is oak brush, deerbrush, mountain mahogany, squawbush, manzanita and snakeweed with an understory of sideoats grama, blue grama, squirreltail, tridens, three-awns and annuals. Vegetation at lower elevations is black grama, sideoats grama, three-awns, tridens, squirreltail, snakeweed and annuals.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Arizona in semiarid regions. The soil is extensive in central Yavapai County. MLRA 39.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Western Yavapai County Area, Yavapai County, Arizona, 1971. Name taken from Rancho Moano in Yavapai County, Arizona.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)
Particle size control section - the zone from 0 to 9 inches (A and C horizons)
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons
Lithic contact - The boundary at 14 inches (2R horizon)
Classification changed from Lithic subgroup to Lithic Ustic subgroup in 2006 to be consistent with the moisture regime.
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.