LOCATION MOENTRIA NV

Established Series
Rev. LJL/TM/RLB/ET
06/2016

MOENTRIA SERIES

The Moentria series consists of very shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium from calcareous sandstone and siltstone. Moentria soils are on mountains. Slope ranges from 8 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 180 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Typic Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Moentria extremely gravelly loam, rangeland and wildlife habitat. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered by approximately 70 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones.

A--0 to 8 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/4) extremely gravelly loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate thick platy structure parting to fine and medium subangular blocky; soft, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine and medium interstitial and tubular pores; 70 percent gravel, 2 percent cobbles and 1 percent stones; violently effervescent (30 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4 ); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

Bk--8 to 23 cm; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very gravelly loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine, common medium and few coarse roots; common very fine and few fine interstitial pores and few fine tubular pores; few distinct calcium carbonate coats on bottom of rock fragments; 50 percent gravel; violently effervescent (35 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4 ); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 cm thick)

Crk--23 to 48 cm; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) soft calcareous sandstone and siltstone bedrock with less than four inches between fractures, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; massive; hard, firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; sandy loam material in fractures; common very fine, fine and medium roots in fractures; common distinct calcium carbonate coats on bottom of rock fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt irregular boundary. (10 to 30 cm thick)

R--48 cm; hard calcareous sandstone and siltstone bedrock with more than 10 cm between fractures; common thin calcium carbonate coats on bottom of fractured rocks; few very fine, fine and medium roots in fractures; strongly effervescent.

TYPE LOCATION: Clark County, Nevada; approximately 2 miles north of Kyle Canyon in Goodwater Canyon on the east side of the Spring Mountain Range; about 1,000 feet north and 50 feet east of the southwest corner of section 9, T. 19 S., R. 58 E.; USGS Grapevine Spring, NV 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 36 degrees, 18 minutes, 34 seconds north latitude and 115 degrees, 29 minutes, 39 seconds west longitude; UTM 11s, 635189e, 4019323n; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 36.3094444 latitude, -115.4941667 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in some part during winter and spring and intermittingly moist in the upper part following summer convection storms; typic-aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 12 to 14 degrees C.
Depth to paralithic contact: 10 to 25 cm.
Depth to bedrock: 25 to 40 cm.

Particle-size control section - Percent clay: 8 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 50 to 75 percent, mainly gravel or channers.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the less than 20 millimeter fraction: 20 to 40 percent.

A horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction: 15 to 35 percent.

Bk horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Texture: Loam, fine sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam.
Rock fragments: 50 to 70 percent, mainly gravel or channers.
Structure: Weak or moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky.
Consistence: Nonsticky or slightly sticky.
Effervescence: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction: 15 to 35 percent.

Crk horizon
Calcium carbonate coats are common on the undersides of rock fragments in some horizons.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Pumel, Shayla and Slocave series. Pumel and Slocave soils have bedrock at 50 to 100 cm. Shayla soils have mean annual soil temperature of 8.3 to 10 degrees C., clay content of 23 to 35 percent, and lithic contact at greater than 100 cm.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Moentria soils are on mountains. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium from calcareous sandstone and siltstone. Slope ranges from 8 to 50 percent. Elevations are 4,000 to 7,000 feet. The climate is warm and arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 180 to 230 mm; mean annual air temperature is 11 to 13 degrees C., and the frost-free season is 130 to 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Boxspring, Potosi and Zeheme series. Boxspring, Potosi and Zeheme soils are on limestone parent material, have a carbonatic mineralogy and lack a paralithic contact.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; high or very high runoff; moderate permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly blackbrush, desert needlegrass and spiny menodora.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mojave Desert of southern Nevada; MLRA 30. These soils are not extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clark County Area, Nevada, 2006. Proposed in Clark County, Nevada, 1995. The name is coined from the Moenkopi Formation of the Triassic period.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 18 cm (A and part of the Bk horizons).
Paralithic layer - 23 to 48 cm (Crk layer).
Bedrock contact - 48 cm (R layer).
Particle-size control section - 0 to 23 cm (A and Bk horizons).
Other features - Lacks a diagnostic calcic horizon.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.