LOCATION MOONSET UT
Established Series
Rev. RJL/MJD/SJJ
03/2015
MOONSET SERIES
The Moonset series consists of shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soils formed in slope alluvium and colluvium derived from sandstone and shale. Moonset soils are on hillslopes. Slopes are 1 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 44 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Moonset channery loam on a northeastern 14 percent slope under pinyon pine and Utah juniper at an elevation of 7,300 feet. (Colors are for air-dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1--0 to 3 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) channery loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate thin platy structure, parting to weak very fine subangular blocky; soft, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine and few medium roots; common very fine, fine, and few medium vesicular pores; 15 percent channers; slightly effervescent, (8 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary.
A2--3 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) channery loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine and few medium and coarse roots; common very fine and fine, and few medium tubular pores; 25 percent channers; slightly effervescent (10 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (combined thickness of A horizons is 5 to 9 inches)
C--9 to 19 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) extremely channery loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and medium roots; 60 percent channers, 30 percent flagstones (20 percent slake in water); slightly effervescent (13 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (combined thickness of C horizons is 4 to 11 inches)
R--19 inches; fractured shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Uintah County, Utah; on Moonridge 3 miles southeast of the confluence of Meadow Creek and Willow Creek on the USGS Tenmile Canyon North Quadrangle; about 1,200 feet east and 600 feet south of the northwest corner of sec. 11, T.16S., R.21E., SLBM; 39 degrees, 26 minutes, 9 seconds north latitude and 109 degrees, 34 minutes, 34 seconds west longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is affected by precipitation that falls evenly throughout the year with a slight increase in late summer and fall. Ustic soil moisture regime, bordering on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 44 to 47 degrees F.
Depth to lithic contact: 10 to 20 inches to shale
Thickness of the Mollic Epipedon: 9 to 20 inches thick.
Particle-size control section: 18 to 27 percent clay, and 35 to 80 percent rock fragments (sandstone and shale lithology)
A horizon:
Value: 4 or 5 dry
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist
C horizon:
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist
Texture: very channery loam or extremely channery loam
COMPETING SERIES: Current competitors are the
Castner, and
Whitlash series. Competitors prior to the Eighth Edition, 1998 Keys to Soil Taxonomy are the
Celeste,
Comodore,
Duffymont,
Firo,
Onaqui,
Paunsaugunt, and
Pendant series.
Castner: have accumulations of secondary carbonates and a typic ustic soil moisture regime.
Celeste: formed in parent material derived from rhyolite.
Comodore,
Duffymont: are more acid and are noncalcareous throughout.
Firo: formed in igneous parent materials and are noncalcareous throughout.
Onaqui and
Paunsaugunt: have typic ustic soil moisture regimes.
Pendant: formed in parent materials derived from limestone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and colluvium derived from sandstone and shale
Landform: hillslopes
Slopes: 1 to 50 percent
Elevation: 6,500 to 8,000 feet
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 16 inches
Mean annual air temperature: 42 to 45 degrees
Frost-free period: 90 to 110 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Gompers,
Pathead,
Saddlehorse,
Seeprid,
Towave, and
Utso soils.
Gompers soils are on very steep backslopes and do not have a mollic epipedon.
Pathead soils have an ochric epipedon.
Saddlehorse soils are on hillslopes, have a calcic horizon and are 20 to 40 inches deep over bedrock.
Seeprid and
Towave soils are very deep.
Utso soils are deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to high runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally for rangeland, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Potential vegetation consists of pinyon pine, Utah juniper, bluebunch wheatgrass, Salina wildrye, Indian ricegrass, and birchleaf mountainmahogany. This soil has been correlated to the Upland Shallow Loam (Pinyon-Utah Juniper) - 034XY322UT range site in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Utah. The series is of moderate extent. LRR D; MLRA 34.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Uintah County, Uintah Area Soil Survey, Utah, 1998. The name is coined from a geographic location in the area.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
The surface is cover by 50 percent channers.
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 19 inches. (C horizon)
Mollic epipedon: The zone from 0 to 19 inches. (A1, A2, and C horizons)
Lithic contact: The contact with fractured shale at 19 inches. (R layer)
The cation exchange activity class was inferred from laboratory data in the Uintah Area Soil Survey.
The surface texture modifier was determined following the guidelines outlined in the Utah document, "Procedures for Distributing Rock Fragments on the Surface Layer into the Upper 6 inches of Soil and Subsequent Naming of Map Units, April 1979."
The classification was changed from Lithic Haploborolls to frigid Lithic Haplustolls 8/98.
Taxonomic version: Eighth Edition, 1998.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.