LOCATION MOBL                    NV

Established Series
Rev. RWW/RLB/WED
11/2015

MOBL SERIES

The Mobl series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium from mainly volcanic tuffs with minor amounts of limestone and quartzite. Mobl soils are on alluvial flats. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 4 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 65 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Natrargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Mobl fine sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) About 35 percent of the soil surface is covered with pebbles, 5 percent with cobbles.

A--0 to 2 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many fine and medium vesicular, few very fine tubular pores; 10 percent pebbles; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)

Btn--2 to 7 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/4) sandy clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; strong coarse prismatic structure parting to weak fine and medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few distinct clay films bridging sand grains; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)

C1--7 to 17 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/4) sandy loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine and fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2); gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 13 inches thick)

2C2--17 to 33 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; common very fine and fine interstitial, few very fine tubular pores; 35 percent pebbles; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); gradual wavy boundary. (14 to 18 inches thick)

3C3--33 to 61 inches; light gray (10YR 6/1) extremely gravelly loamy sand; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; single-grained; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine interstitial pores; 65 percent pebbles; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; approximately 1 1/2 miles south of Scotties Castle road, about 1,200 feet south and 500 feet east of the northwest corner of section 8, T. 8 S., R. 44 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - Usually dry. Moist for short periods of time in the late winter. The soil moisture utalized for evpotranspiration between summer and winter is about 0.4:1, typical of the Mojave Desert.

Soil temperature - 63 to 67 degrees F.

Depth to lower boundary of natric horizon - 6 to 10 inches.

Reaction: Strongly alkaline or very strongly alkaline.



Control section - Clay content: Averages 5 to 18 percent.

Rock fragments: Averages 15 to 35 percent.



A horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist.

Chroma: 3 or 4 dry or moist.



Btn horizon - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.

Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist.

Chroma: 2 through 4.

Texture: Sandy clay loam or clay loam.

Clay content: 20 to 30 percent.

Rock fragments: Up to 10 percent pebbles.

Sodicity: SAR 31 to 45.



C horizon - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.

Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist.

Chroma: 2 through 4.

Rock fragments: Up to 10 percent pebbles.



2C and 3C horizons - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist.

Chroma: 1 though 4 dry or moist.

Texture: Stratified sandy loam to extremely gravelly loamy sand.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Halloran(CA), Mazourka(T CA) and Tennco(T CA) series. Halloran soils have natric horizons with a lower boundary at depths of 11 to 36 inches clay content of 10 to 18 percent. Mazourka soils have natric horizons with a lower boundary at depths of 11 to 40 inches and have a particle-size control section that averages 12 to 18 percent clay. Tennco soils do not have soil temperatures below 47 degrees during January and February.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Mobl soils are on alluvial flats. These soils formed in alluvium primarily from volcanic tuffs with minor amounts of limestone and quartzite. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. Elevations are 4,000 to 4,800 feet. The climate is arid with hot summers and cool winters, typical of the Mojave Desert. The mean annual precipitation is between 4 and 7 inches; mean annual temperature is between 60 to 65 degrees F., and the frost-free season is about 200 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Arizo, Canutio, and Skelon series. The Arizo soils are sandy-skeletal. The Canutio soils are loamy-skeletal. Skelon soils have a moderately deep duripan. Orrub soils have an argillic horizon and a shallow, weakly developed duripan.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium runoff; moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, cattle saltbush, white bursage, spiny horsebrush and turpentinebush.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 30.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County, Nevada, Southwestern Part, 1994. The name is coined.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A harizon)

Natric horizon - The zone from 2 to 7 inches (Btn horizon).

Particle-size control section - The zone from about 2 to 40 inches.

Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 11/2015. The last revision to the series was 1/2001. ET

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.