LOCATION MATHERS WYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Typic Glossocryalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Mathers gravelly sandy loam, spruce and fir forest. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches; undecomposed organic material, chiefly needles, bark, and twigs.
Oe--2 to 3 inches; partially decomposed organic material like that of the horizon above.
A--3 to 5 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; strong fine crumb structure; soft, very friable; few charcoal fragments; moderately acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
E--5 to 10 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/3) gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure that parts to moderate fine crumb and granular structure; soft, very friable; few charcoal fragments; 20 percent gravel most of which is fine and very fine angular granite fragments; moderately acid (pH 6.0); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
E/B--10 to 15 inches; mixed colors including pink (7.5YR 7/3) and brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly sandy clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) moist, and brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; extremely hard, very friable; horizon consists of nodules and seams of clayey material like that of the underlying horizon imbedded in a matrix of lighter colored material like that of the overlying horizon; a few glossy patches on the more clayey portions of the aggregates; 20 percent gravel most of which is fine and very fine angular granite gravel; moderately acid (pH 6.0); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
Bt--15 to 30 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) gravelly sandy clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; extremely hard, very friable; thin wax-like coatings on faces of peds, in root channels and on sand grains, and wax-like bridges between sand grains; 20 percent gravel most of which is fine and very fine angular granite fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.2); gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
BC--30 to 36 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; extremely hard, very friable; few thin glossy patches on faces of peds; 25 percent gravel, most of which is fine and very fine angular granite fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.4); diffuse wavy boundary. (3 to 7 inches thick)
2C--36 to 60 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loamy sand; brown (10YR 5/3) moist; single grain; hard, loose; 40 to 50 percent gravel, most of which is fine and very fine angular granite gravel; neutral (pH 6.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Johnson County, Wyoming; SW1/4 SW1/4 sec. 24, T.47N., R.85W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is 20 to 40 inches thick, and depth to the contrasting 2C horizon ranges from 20 to 40 inches. Content of organic carbon ranges from 1 to 4 percent in the A horizon but decreases rapidly and uniformly with depth. The soil is 60 to 80 percent base-saturated. These soils have an extremely hard, semi-cemented consistence when air dry in horizons that are low in organic matter and have low volume change on wetting and drying. Content of coarse fragments in the solum ranges from 15 to 35 percent, most of which are fine and very fine angular granite fragments. Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 32 degrees to 47 degrees F., and mean summer soil temperature from 40 degrees to 46 degrees F. with an O horizon at least 4 inches thick and good crown cover.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 6 or 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist and chroma of 2 through 4. It usually has platy primary structure but has granular structure in some pedons. This horizon is soft to slightly hard and slightly to moderately acid.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR through 5YR, value of 5 or 6 dry and 4 or 5 moist and chroma of 3 or 4. It is typically coarse sandy clay loam but clay ranges from 18 to 35 percent, silt from 5 to 30 percent, and sand from 45 to 70 percent with more than 35 percent fine sand or coarser, and with a high percentage of medium and coarse angular granite sand. This horizon has oriented clay films in some part. It is slightly acid to neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on old terrace levels, glacial outwash plains, and on alluvial fans where the parent sediments are dominated by materials weathered from granite bedrock. Slopes usually range from 0 to about 15 percent. These soils formed in moderately coarse to moderately fine textured materials weathered from granite. At the type location the average annual precipitation is 20 inches, with peak periods of precipitation during the spring and early summer months. Average annual temperature is 36 degrees F., and average summer temperature is 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Woodrock and Burgess soils. Woodrock soils lack coarse textured substratums. Burgess soils have a mollic epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium to slow runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used principally as native pastureland, for recreation, and for limited forestry uses. Principal native plants are lodgepole pine, spruce, and fir with an understory of grasses and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Big Horn Mountain areas of north-central Wyoming. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Johnson County (Southern Johnson County Area), Wyoming, 1971.