LOCATION PANOCHE CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Panoche loam - on a slope of 1 percent in a cultivated barley field at 755 feet elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on October 21, 1970 the soil was dry throughout.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial and many very fine tubular pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
Bw--7 to 24 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; weak very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse subangular blocky; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial and many very fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent, disseminated carbonates; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 18 inches thick)
Bk--24 to 60 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; many very fine interstitial and many fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated, strongly effervescent, carbonates segregated as few fine irregularly shaped threads; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Kings County, California; 0.5 miles south of the community of Avenal, 700 feet southwest of the intersection of Highway 33 and Big Tar Canyon Road; 700 feet south and 100 feet west of the northeast corner of section 28, T. 22 S., R. 17 E., MDB&M; Latitude 35 degrees, 59 minutes, 29 seconds north and Longitude 120 degrees, 07 minutes, 43 seconds west; USGS Garza Peak Topographic Quadrangle, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soil between the depths of 5 and 15 inches becomes moist in some part in the latter part of December and stays moist until about the end of February or March. It is usually dry the rest of the year. Mean annual soil temperature is about 60 degrees to 66 degrees F. The soil temperature is always above 47 degrees F. Coarse fragments are generally less than 5 percent, though some pedons have thin strata with up to 35 percent below 40 inches. Organic matter is less than 1 percent and decreases regularly with increasing depth. They generally are calcareous below a depth of 1 to 7 inches. Some pedons are weakly stratified while others are very uniform in texture.
The A horizon has color of 10YR 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 5/2, 5/4 or 6/2. Moist color is 10YR 3/3, 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/2, 4/4 or 5/2. Texture is sandy loam, loam, clay loam or silty clay loam. Clay content is 15 to 35 percent. Most pedons have subangular blocky or prismatic structure but those that have been plowed are often massive. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
The Bw horizon has color of 10YR 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 5/2, 5/4 or 6/2. Moist color is 10YR 3/3, 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/2, 4/4 or 5/2. Texture is sandy loam, loam, clay loam or silty clay loam. Clay content is 18 to 35 percent. Most pedons have subangular blocky or prismatic structure. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
The Bk and Bky horizons, when present, have color of 10YR 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 5/2, 5/4, 6/2, 6/4 or 7/2. Moist color is 10YR 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/2, 4/4, 5/2 or 5/4. Texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, clay loam, silty clay loam or sandy clay loam. The sand fraction of the sandy clay loam consists of 50 to 80 percent fine and very fine sands. Sandy loam texture may occur below a depth of 50 inches. Clay content is 18 to 35 percent. Gypsum crystals are present in some pedons. Bk horizons with segregated carbonates are present in most pedons and calcium carbonate equivalent is less than 5 percent. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
The C horizon, when present, has color of 10YR 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 5/2, 5/4, 6/2 or 6/4. Moist color is 10YR 4/2, 4/3, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/2, 4/4, 5/2 or 5/4. Texture is loam, clay loam, silty clay loam or sandy clay loam in the lower part. The sand fraction of the sandy clay loam consists of 50 to 80 percent fine and very fine sands. Clay content is 18 to 35 percent. Reaction is moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Adelino, Kettleman and Voyager series. Adelino soils (MLRA 42) are on alluvial fans and are intermittently moist in the summer and have 7.5YR hue. Kettleman soils (MLRA 15) are on hills and uplands and have a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Voyager soils (MLRA 30) formed in eolian material on alluvial flats at elevations of more than 2,270 feet and have Bt horizons.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Panoche soils are on alluvial fans and flood plains.Slope is 0 to 15 percent. They formed in alluvium derived mainly from sedimentary rock. They occur at elevations of 185 to 1,800 feet in an arid mesothermal climate having warm summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 5 to 8 inches. Mean January temperature is about 46 degrees F.; mean July temperature is about 82 degrees F.; and the mean annual temperature is 62 degrees to 65 degrees F. The frost-free season is 250 to 300 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Delano, Garces, Kimberlina, McFarland, Milham and Wasco soils and the competing Kettleman soils. Delano and Milham soils are on alluvial fans and fan remnants and have an argillic horizon. McFarland soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans and do not have a cambic horizon. Garces soils have a natric horizon and are on fan remnants. Kimberlina and Wasco soils are on alluvial fans and have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; negligible to medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for irrigated crops such as alfalfa, almonds, barley, cotton, sugar beets and sorghum. Dryland areas are used as range following seasonal rains. A few areas are used for dryland grain, but are seldom successful.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern part of the San Joaquin Valley in California. The soils are extensive. MLRA 17.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Reconnaissance Survey of the Lower San Joaquin Valley, California, 1915.
REMARKS: The Panoche series formerly included soils with an aridic bordering on a xeric moisture regime. Such soils will now be within the Polonio series. The Panoche series was historically classified as Typic Torriorthents. This was changed to Typic Haplocambids when a cambic horizon was describedin the Panoche profile. The presence of a cambic horizon is based on the following characteristic:
1. Soil structure in the cambic horizon (unless moist from irrigation or rainfall or drastically modified by deep ripping).
2. Removal of carbonates or gypsum from the cambic horizon.
3. Accumulation of carbonates or gypsum below the cambic horizon which supports loss of carbonates or gypsum from overlying horizons.
4. Higher chroma in the cambic horizon in some pedons.
5. Most areas of Panoche soil are irrigated with 2 to 3 feet of water per year applied for crop production. Previous to irrigation, only about 7 inches of precipitation coupled with flood water, was available for soil development. Movement of carbonates, gypsum, fertilizers, and salt through the soil profile has created more pronounced cambic horizons because of application of irrigation water.
The recognition of a cambic horizon in this soil necessitates the placing of all saline-sodic and saline-alkali phases of Panoche series into another soil series. These soils would classify as Sodic Haplocambids. Many of these soils will be called Calflax series. Calflax series has an irregular decrease in organic carbon content with increasing depth, which appears to be the case with soils mapped as Panoche, saline sodic. They also occur on lower positions in the landscape (fan skirts) than Panoche soils, which are not saline-sodic (alluvial fans and flood plains).
Major Diagnostic Horizons:
1. Ochric Epipedon--0 to 7 inches (Ap).
2. Cambic Horizon--7 to 24 inches (Bw).
2.1 Removal of carbonates or gypsum from the cambic horizon.
3. Zone of redistribution--24 to 60 inches (Bk).