LOCATION NOYO CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, isomesic Typic Albaquults
TYPICAL PEDON: Noyo sandy loam - forested (colors for dry conditions unless otherwise noted).
01--2 to 0 inches; litter of Bishop pine and huckleberry; about 1/4" of slightly fermented layer.
A1--0 to 11 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) sandy loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; massive; soft, firm, nonsticky, nonplastic; abundant very fine, few coarse roots; many very fine tubular pores; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); diffuse wavy boundary. (4 to 15 inches thick).
A21--11 to 20 inches; white and gray (10YR 8/1, 6/1) sandy loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) moist; massive; soft, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; plentiful very fine roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; few medium distinct very pale brown and dark yellowish brown (10YR 7/3 and 4/4) mottles; very strongly acid (pH 5.2); diffuse wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick).
A22--20 to 29 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) sandy loam, light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) moist; massive; soft, firm, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine, medium and coarse roots; many fine tubular and interstitial pores; thin discontinuous lenses (2.5Y 7/1) of sand tongue through the A22 into B2t; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary (0 to 10 inches thick).
B2t--29 to 53 inches; light gray (N7/) and brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) sandy clay loam, gray and yellowish brown (10YR 6/1, 5/6) moist; strong coarse prismatic and strong coarse angular blocky structure; extremely hard, firm, sticky and plastic; plentiful fine and medium exped roots; common fine tubular and interstitial pores; small pockets of light gray clay (2.5Y 7/2); very strongly acid (pH 4.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (12 to 28 inches thick).
C--53 inches +; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) loamy sand with strong brown and light brown mottling, pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) moist with strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottling; massive; hard, firm and weakly cemented; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); many feet.
TYPE LOCATION: Sonoma County, California; NE 1/4, SW 1/4, Sec. 4, T.8N., R.13W; 1.7 miles south of Plantation near Salt Point; pit just NE of Highway 1. Site on 10 percent slope, west aspect, 310 feet elevation under Bishop pines and shrub understory.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils have ochric epipedons, albic and argillic horizons, base saturation greater than 35 percent 50 inches below top of argillic horizons; abrupt albic to argillic boundary. Thickness of solum ranges from 18 to over 60 inches. Soils are usually moist, have mean soil temperature of <59 degrees F.; are of mixed mineralogy. The A1 horizon is usually dark gray when moist, drying to gray to grayish brown (10YR and 2.5Y). The A1 ranges in texture from loamy sand to fine sandy loam, and in reaction from strongly acid to extremely acid. The A2 horizon is distinctly lighter colored and more silicious than the A1, ranging in 10YR and 2.5Y hues from dark gray (4/1) through light gray (6/1) to pale brown (6/3) moist, and about 2 units of value higher when dry, and is commonly nearly white (8/1) dry. Textures are loamy sand to fine sandy loam and reaction is strongly to extremely acid. The A1 horizons are massive with soft consistence. The B2t horizons are various colors, depending on amount of iron present and local drainage conditions. Common colors are yellowish brown, brownish yellow, strong brown, grayish brown (10YR hue). Textures in the B2t range from sandy clay loam to heavy sandy clay loam. Reaction is strongly to very strongly acid. Large cracks sometimes occur in the B2t, producing a strong, very coarse blocky or prismatic structure. Ped faces are sometimes coated with quartz sand. Consistence is extremely hard. The C horizon has chromas of 4 to 8 and values of 5 to 6 moist, and dry values of 5 to 7. Texture ranges from loamy sand, sandy loam to sandy clay loam, and reaction is strongly to very strongly acid. The parent material is weakly consolidated sandstone, and hard rock is encountered only when the underlying Cretaceous sandstone is reached at extreme depths.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no soils in the same family. In the same subgroup, similar soils are Narlon which are in a fine family. Similar series in the same group is the Wright with umbric epipedons and clay argillic horizons. Similar series in other Orders are caspar and Goldridge which have base saturation less than 35 percent 50 inches below the top of the argillic horizon, and Blacklock series which has spodic horizons.
SETTING: The Noyo soils occur on gently sloping, smooth coastal terraces, within 5 miles of the coastline. Elevation ranges from about 100 feet to nearly 1000 feet. The climate is mild, due to the proximity of the ocean. Mean annual rainfall is 40 inches, varying between 30 and 60 inches one year in ten. Mean annual temperature is 54 degrees F.; average January temperature is 49 degrees F.; average July temperature is 57 degrees F. The maximum and minimum observed temperatures are 94 degrees and 28 degrees F., respectively. The frost-free season ranges from 300 to 340 days.
PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: Noyo soils occur in the same general area as the Blacklock, Caspar, Melbourne, Empire, Mendocino, Hugo, and Josephine series. Melbourne, Hugo, and Josephine are developed from consolidated sandstone and lack albic horizons. Empire and Mendocino soils are developed from similar parent materials, but lack albic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: The soils are somewhat poorly drained because of compact B2 horizon and topography; permeability is very rapid over slow to very slow; erosion hazard is moderate and runoff is slow to medium.
USE AND VEGETATION: Increasingly, these soils are being used a scenic housing sites. They are poorly suited to commercial crops or timber production. Vegetation is undisturbed areas consists of Bishop pine, Eastwood manzanita, coast rhododendron, Pacific wax-myrtle, Labrador tea, salal, California huckleberry, scrub golden chinquapin, hairy manzanita, and glossyleaf manzanita. In general, the shrub species are more varied and taller than on the Blacklock soils. Occasionally a few stunted redwood, tanoak, madrone, and Douglas-fir occur. Bracken fern, beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) and California sweetgrass make up the majority of the herbaceous species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Adjacent to the coast of northern California, in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. The series is inextensive, covering about 9000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: 1948, Mendocino County, California.
REMARKS: Classification problems for this series are not new. (Gardner and Bradshaw: Characteristics of Podzolic Soils of California, 1954). Formerly it was considered as transitional between Red-Yellow Podzolic and Ground Water Podzols. If the base saturation is greater than 35 percent 50 inches below the top of the argillic horizon and if the soils have an albic horizon, the classification is as given. If soils have base saturation less than 35 percent, they would be classified as Typic Tropaquults.
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 8/66.