LOCATION NONPAREIL OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Typic Dystroxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Nonpareil loam, on a south-facing 3 to 12 percnet slope in an improved pasture. (When described, the soils were dry. Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--4 to 14 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine subangular blocky; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 10 percent soft fragments; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
Bw2--14 to 17 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 15 percent soft fragments; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
Crt--17 to 24 inches; weathered sandstone; common black stains and reddish brown (5YR 4/5) clay films in fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Douglas County, Oregon; about 4 miles east of Sutherlin; 1,300 feet east and 1,000 feet south of the northwest corner of section 12, T. 25 S., R. 5 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil is usually moist, but is dry throughout the control section for 60 to 90 consecutive days during the four-month period following the summer solstice. Depth to a paralithic contact is 10 to 20 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is 52 to 57 degrees F. Rock fragments range from 0 to 20 percent soft gravel sized fragments and 0 to 15 percent soft cobble sized fragments. Most of these are weathered and crushable. The maximum amounts commonly are on the steeper slopes. The base saturation is less than 60 percent between the depth of 10 inches and to the paralithic contact.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 6 or 7 dry and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 6 or 7 dry and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is loam, silty loam, or clay loam and averages 20 to 35 percent clay. Clean sand and silt coatings are common in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Chawanakee series. Chawanakee soils have a coarse sandy loam and sandy loam particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nonpareil soils are on ridgetops, hillslopes and broadly convex footslopes at elevations of 300 to 2,500 feet. Slopes are 3 to 90 percent. The soils formed in colluvium and residuum wethered from sandstone and siltstone. The climate is characterized by cool moist winters and warm dry summers. The mean annual temperature is 50 to 55 degrees F., and the annual precipitation is 30 to 60 inches. The frost-free season is 160 to 235 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dickerson, Speaker, Sutherlin, and Oakland soils. Dickerson soils are 3 to 10 inches deep to a paralithic contact. Speaker soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to a lithic contact. Sutherlin soils are fine-loamy over clayey and are moderately well drained. Oakland soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to a paralithic contact and average more than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for pasture and grazing. Native vegetation is dominantly grasses, rose, poison oak, and Oregon white oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern and west-central Oregon. MLRA 5. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Douglas County, Oregon, 1994.