LOCATION OLENE ORTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, frigid Xeric Endoaquerts
TYPICAL PEDON: Olene gravelly clay--on a 1 percent slope at an elevation of 5,140 feet--rangeland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted. The soil was moist throughout when it was described on October 15, 1998.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) gravelly clay, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; 20 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
A2--2 to 8 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) clay, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to weak medium angular blocky; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine, common fine, and few medium roots; common very fine and common fine tubular pores; 10 percent pebbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bss1--8 to 16 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) clay, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; strong coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate fine wedge; very hard, very firm, moderately sticky and very plastic; few very fine, few medium, and common fine roots; common very fine and common fine tubular pores; few intersecting slickensides; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
Bss2--16 to 26 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) clay, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine wedge; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; few very fine, few fine, and few medium roots; few fine and few medium tubular pores; common pressure faces and few intersecting slickensides; few medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
BC--26 to 42 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) very cobbly clay, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) dry; moderate medium angular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, moderately sticky and very plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine and few fine tubular pores; 15 percent pebbles, 20 percent cobbles, and 5 percent stones; common medium prominent greenish gray (5BG 5/1) iron depletions and common medium prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5); clear wavy boundary. (15 to 24 inches thick)
C--42 to 52 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly clay, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) dry; massive; very hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; 30 percent pebbles and 10 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
2Cr--52 to 62 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) weathered basalt, reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) dry.
TYPE LOCATION: Klamath County, Oregon; about 1 mile northeast of Holbrook Spring and 1 mile west of the Main Haul Road; 600 feet west and 400 feet south of the northeast corner of section 6, T. 41 S., R. 15 E.; USGS Antler Point 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 42 degrees 02 minutes 54 seconds north latitude and 120 degrees 58 minutes 44 seconds west longitude, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually wet during winter and spring and moist during summer and fall. These soils occur downstream from springs and seeps and remain moist throughout the profile in most years; aquic moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature - 44 to 46 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature - 59 to 61 degrees F.
Depth to horizons with aquic conditions - 0 to 12 inches.
Mollic epipedon thickness - 12 to 18 inches.
Cracks- Few or common which open and close in normal years. The root mass in the upper few inches of the soil usually obscures or prevents the cracks from opening to the surface. The soil surface is not self-mulching.
Depth to bedrock - 45 to 60 inches to a paralithic contact. The paralithic materials below the contact are weathered basalt.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 45 to 60 percent; Rock fragments; 15 to 35 percent, mainly pebbles and cobbles. Lithology of fragments are basalt.
Reaction - Neutral or slightly alkaline.
Other features - Redox concentrations are not normally present in the horizons with low chroma that constitute the mollic epipedon, due to masking by high amounts of dark organic matter.
A horizons - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR
Value: 2 or 3 moist, 3 or 4 dry.
Chroma: 1 or 2, moist or dry.
Clay content: 40 to 45 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 30 percent.
Organic matter content: 2 to 4 percent.
Bss1 horizon - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry.
Chroma: 2 or 3, moist or dry.
Texture: Clay or silty clay.
Clay content: 50 to 60 percent.
Organic matter content: 1 to 3 percent.
Bss2 horizon - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 2 through 4 moist, 4 or 5 dry.
Chroma: 2 or 3, moist or dry.
Texture: Clay or silty clay.
Clay content: 50 to 60 percent.
Redoximorphic features: few or common, distinct or prominent redox concentrations of iron.
BC horizon - Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 2 through 4 moist, 4 or 5 dry.
Chroma: 2 or 3, moist or dry.
Texture: Very cobbly clay or very cobbly silty clay.
Clay content: 45 to 55 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent.
Redoximorphic features: few or common, distinct or prominent redox deletions or redox concentrations of iron.
C horizon - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 3 through 5 moist, 4 through 6 dry.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Very gravelly clay or very cobbly clay.
Clay content: 40 to 50 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hippyjim (T) and Kanutchan series.
Hippyjim soils have 0 to 5 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Kanutchan soils are deep to lithic contacts.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Olene soils are on drainageways on plateaus. They formed in alluvium derived from basalt and tuff. Slopes are 0 to 1 percent. Elevations range from 5,100 to 5,300 feet. The climate is semiarid and characterized by cold, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 18 to 20 inches. The mean annual temperature is 43 to 45 degrees F., mean January temperature is 25 to 28 degrees F., and the mean July temperature is 60 to 65 degrees F. The frost-free period is 50 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Casebeer, Dranket, and Norcross soils. Casebeer and Norcross soils are clayey, shallow to duripans over bedrock, and have argillic horizons. Dranket soils are fine, moderately deep to duripans over bedrock, and have argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; medium surface runoff; slow permeability. Endosaturation is present with a seasonal high water table between the soil surface and 12 inches (very shallow and shallow internal free water occurrence classes) from December to May. During summer months in normal years the zone of saturation drops between 26 and 42 inches. Cumulative annual duration class is Common. These soils receive run-on moisture and are frequently ponded for very long duration (more than 45 consecutive days in normal years), mainly in the late winter and spring. They can be ponded for as long as 4 months in a normal year and periods of brief duration ponding can occur after intense rainfall events. Depth of water during ponding is 2 to 6 inches.
USE AND VEGETATION: Olene soils are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and recreation. The native vegetation is California oatgrass, sedges, and slender wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Oregon. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 21.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.
SERIES PROPOSED: Klamath County (Gerber Block of Fremont National Forest Area), Oregon, 1997. The name is from a small town west of the survey area.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 16 inches (A1, A2, and Bss1 horizons).
Vertic features - The zone from 8 to 26 inches (Bss1 and Bss2 horizons).
Aquic conditions - The conditions of endosaturation and reduction in all horizons between the soil surface and about 12 inches during certain times of the year (A1, A2, and Bss1 horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 52 inches to underlying soft, weathered bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Bss2 horizon and most of the Bss1 and BC horizons).