LOCATION MOSES WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic Haploxerandic Haplocryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Moses medial silt loam, on a 11 percent northwest facing slope at 5,080 feet elevation, under a subalpine fir, Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine canopy. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. All textures are apparent field textures.)
Oi--0 to 4 inches; needles, twigs, grasses and partially decomposed organic matter.
A--4 to 5 inches, light gray (10YR 7/2) medial silt loam (Mt. St. Helens 'T' ash), brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine, few medium roots; moderately acid (pH 5.9); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 1 inch thick)
Bw1--5 to 10 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) medial silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; NaF pH l0.7; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bw2--10 to 17 inches; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) medial silt loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; NaF pH l0.8; moderately acid (pH 6.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)
2Bw3--17 to 24 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly coarse sandy loam; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; 45 percent pebbles; moderately acid (pH 5.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 19 inches thick)
2C--24 to 38 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/4) very gravelly coarse sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; 50 percent pebbles, 5 percent cobbles; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
2Cr--38 inches; weathered quartz monzonite.
TYPE LOCATION: Colville Indian Reservation; Ferry County, Washington; about 15 miles west of the town of Inchelium; 1,000 feet north and 500 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 15, T. 32 N., R. 34 E., W.M.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature at a depth of 20 inches is 39 to 43 degrees F. These soils are usually moist but are dry in all parts between depths of 8 and 24 inches for 45 to 60 consecutive days following the summer solstice. Thickness of the volcanic ash mantle ranges from 7 to 14 inches and has an estimated moist bulk density of 0.65 to 0.75 g/cc, volcanic glass content of 30 to 60 percent, acid-oxalate extractable aluminum plus one-half of the acid-oxalate extractable iron of more than 2.0 percent, and 15-bar water retention of 12 to 15 percent for air dried samples. Depth to a paralithic contact is 20 to 40 inches. The control section averages 35 to 60 percent rock fragments. Some pedons lack the thin A horizon (Mt. St. Helens 'T'ash) just below the organic layer.
The A horizon hs value of 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moist. It is 0 to 10 percent pebbles, 0 to 25 percent cobbles and 0 to 25 percent stones or boulders. Reaction is moderately acid or slightly acid.
The Bw horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist, and chroma of 3 through 6 dry or moist. It is silt loam or loam with a 0 to 10 percent pebbles. Reaction is moderately acid or slightly acid.
The 2Bw horizon has value of 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 3 or 4 dry or moist. It is gravelly coarse sandy loam or very gravelly coarse sandy loam with 25 to 55 percent pebbles, 0 to 20 percent cobbles, and 5 to 15 percent stones. Reaction ranges from moderately acid to neutral. Some pedons do not have a 2Bw horizon and have a 2BC or 2CB horizon with texture similar to the 2Bw horizon.
The 2C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moist. It is sandy loam, or coarse sandy loam and is very gravelly, very cobbly, or very stony. It has 25 to 50 percent pebbles, 5 to 30 percent cobbles, and 0 to 5 percent stones. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Buhrig, Buttoncreek, Devore, Finney, Gatewall, Myerscreek, Prouty, Remmel, and Surgh series. Buttoncreek, Finney, Remmel, and Surgh soils are more than 40 inches deep. Buhrig and Devore soils have a lithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Gatewall and Myerscreek soils have a densic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Prouty soils have a udic moisture regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Moses soils are on toeslopes, footslopes, backslopes, and broad ridges of mountains. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium from granitic rocks with a mantle of volcanic ash. Slopes are 0 to 70 percent. Elevations range from 3,500 to 6,800 feet. The climate is characterized by cold, wet winters and cool, dry summers. Average annual precipitation ranges from 25 to 35 inches. The mean January temperature is about 20 degrees F, mean July temperature is about 60 degrees F, and the mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F. The frost-free season is 70 to 100 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Capoose, Codylake, Manley, Mineral, Moscow, Ohscow, Resner, and Sitdown soils. Capoose, Mineral, Moscow, and Ohscow soils have a frigid temperature regime. Codylake, Manley, and Resner soils have a volcanic ash mantle greater than 14 inches thick and are deep. Sitdown soils are deep and sandy-skeletal.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to very rapid runoff; moderate permeability in the upper solum, moderately rapid permeability in the lower solum and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal, uses are timber production, wildlife habitat, watershed, grazing, and recreation. Native vegetation includes Douglas-fir, western larch, subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, Utah honeysuckle, dwarf rose, longtube twinflower, big huckleberry, pachystima, queencup beadlily, and starry false-Solomons-seal. On cold phases the native vegetation is subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, and whitebark pine with an understory of Cascades azalea, pink mountain heather and Ross sedge.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northcentral and northeastern WAshington. Series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Colville Indian Reservation; Ferry County, Washington, 1985.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this soil are an ochric epipedon from 4 to 10 inches, a cambic horizon consisting of volcanic ash from 5 to 17 inches, a buried cambic horizon from 17 to 24 inches; and a loamy-skeletal particle-size control section.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data are available on this soil, National Soil Survey Laboratory: Pedon Number 84P170, sampled as Prouty series correlated to Moses.
The 3/2008 description reflects a change in classification from Loamy-skeletal, isotic Andic Eutrocryepts to Loamy-skeletal, isotic Haploxerandic Haplocryepts due to revision of the cryepts great groups and subgroups. The competing series section was not updated and should be reviewed after all the cryepts have been re-classified.