LOCATION MYSTEN COEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed Typic Cryopsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Mysten loamy coarse sand, grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
01--2 to 1 inch; undecomposed organic material; chiefly, needles, twigs and bark.
02--1 inch to 0; partially decomposed organic material.
A1--0 to 2 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/2) loamy sand, dark brown (7.5YR 3.2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
C--2 to 60 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loamy sand, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; single grained; hard, loose; 25 percent fine angular granitic gravel; neutral. (Several feet thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Gunnison County, Colorado; along the Taylor River road 1/2 mile north of the Lottis Camp Ground in Sec. 2, T. 15 S., R. 83 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are noncalcareous to depths in excess of 60 inches. Organic carbon in the surface 15 inches range from .2 to 1.5 percent and decreases uniformly with increasing depth. The soil is 80 to 100 percent base saturated, and exchangeable sodium and potassium remain constant or decrease slightly with depth. The control section is typically gravelly loamy sand but is gravelly sand in the lower part in some pedons. It has a high proportion of medium to coarse angular granitic sand. Rock fragments range from 15 to 35 percent and are chiefly fine and very fine angular gravel. Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 32 to 46 degrees F., and mean summer soil temperature ranges from 48 to 58 degrees F., without an 0 horizon.
The A1 horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4. Surface horizons having values as dark as 5 dry and 3 moist do not exceed 4 inches in thickness. Reaction ranges from pH 6.5 to 7.5. Typically the horizon has a weak granular structure but it is single grained in some pedons. It ranges from loose to soft.
The C horizon has hue of 2.5Y through 7.5YR. Reaction ranges from pH 6.0 to 7.4 with little or no increase in pH with increasing depth. This horizon is hard or very hard and there is little volume change on wetting and drying.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Beales, Blackcap, Cagin, Shellrock, and Tezlina series. Beales soils have pH less than 6.0, contain less than 15 percent coarse fragments in the control section, and have only small amounts of medium and coarse angular granitic sand in the sand fraction. Blackcap soils are strongly or very strongly acid and are usually stony or bouldery, with about 10 to 50 percent of the surface area being stones or boulders. Cagwin soils have a paralithic contact of gruss at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Shellrock soils lack an 0 horizon developed in residuum of acid igneous bedrock, have more than 24 inches of precipitation, with a peak period in December and January coming mainly as snow. Tazlina soils contain less than 15 percent coarse fragments in the control section, have horizons with value as dark as 5 dry and 3 moist thicker than 4 inches, and contain only small amounts of medium and coarse angular granite sand.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Mysten soils are on moderately to steeply sloping alluvial fans and valley-filling sides slopes at elevations above 8,000 feet. Slope gradients range from 2 to 50 or more percent. The soils formed in neutral to slightly acid sandy allvuvial sediments derived mainly from granite. At the type location the average annual precipitation is 20 inches with generally uniform distribution throughout the year. The average annual temperature is 32 degrees F., and the average summer temperature is 53 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: There are the pierian, Tine, and Tomichi soils all of which have mollic epipedons. Pierian and Tine soils also are skeletal.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; very slow to slow runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used as native pastureland and for recreational purposes. In some cases they may have scattered groves of timber that have limited value for forestry. Typical native vegetation is mainly lodgpole pine, aspen, bitterbrush, kinnikinnik, roses, prostrate juniper, and scattered grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Higher mountainous areas of central Colorado. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gunnison County, Colorado, 1975.
REMARKS: Differentiation from the Shellrock series is not clear and should be studied further. Last updated by the state 1/75.