LOCATION PRING CO+MTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Aridic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Pring coarse sandy loam - grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A11--0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) coarse sandy loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; soft, very friable; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
A12--8 to 15 inches: brown (10YR 5/3) coarse sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse prismatic structure that parts to moderate coarse subangular blocks; slightly hard, very friable; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
AC--15 to 20 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) coarse sandy loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; very weak coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, very friable, peds are extremely hard, very friable; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
C--20 to 60 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) coarse sandy loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) moist; massive; extremely hard, very friable; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Douglas County, Colorado; on the east side of the county road, 450 feet north and 450 feet east of the center of Sec. 35, T. 10 S., R. 67 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Pring soils typically are noncalcareous to depth of more than 60 inches but depth to uniformly calcareous material ranges from 40 to more than 60 inches. Base saturation typically is more than 80 percent and ranges from 60 to 100 percent. In some pedons the parent arkose beds occur above depth of 40 inches but are of such low contrast that they cannot be consistently identified. The control section typically is coarse sandy loam and has 5 to 18 percent clay, 5 to 35 percent silt, and 50 to 85 percent sand with more than 35 percent being fine or coarser sand. Within the sand fraction a large proportion is medium, coarse, and very coarse angular sand that has a high percentage of flat bearing surfaces between the sand grains. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent by volume in a major part of the control section and are mainly less than 3 inches in diameter but range from 1/8 to 10 inches in diameter. The solum and C horizons range from slightly acid to mildly alkaline. The mean annual soil temperature is 45 degrees F., and the mean summer soil temperature is 63 degrees F.
The A horizon has hue of 5Y through 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 1 through 3.
The B2 horizon if present has hue of 5Y through 7.5YR, value of 5 through 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4.
The C horizon has hue of 5Y through 7.5YR.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chinook, Rhame, and Tinytown series. Chinook soils are calcareous at depths of less than 40 inches and have continuous horizons of secondary calcium carbonate accumulation. Rhame soils have bedrock at depths of less than 40 inches and are calcareous in the C horizon. Tinytown soils have hue of 5YR or redder.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pring soils are on alluvial fans, valley side slopes, hills, and ridges. Slope gradients range from 0 to 30 or more percent. The soils formed in parent materials weathered residually or locally transported from the arkose beds of the Dawson and Arapahoe formations. At the type location the average annual precipitation is 17 inches, with peak periods of precipitation occurring in the spring and summer.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Peyton and Falcon soils. Peyton soils have argillic horizons. Falcon soils have a lithic contact at depths of less than 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used both as cropland and as native pastureland. Native vegetation is mainly big and little bluestem, green needlegrass, and blue grama.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The foothill and Black Forest areas of east-central Colorado. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Douglas County, Colorado, 1946, by prior correlation in the Cherry Creek Soil Conservation District.
REMARKS: Last updated by the state 4/74.