LOCATION PURNER AZ COEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Purner gravelly loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) gravelly loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A2--2 to 9 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) gravelly loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many fine interstitial Pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary (4 to 7 inches thick)
Ckm--9 to 15 inches; white (N 8/ ) weakly and strongly lime-cemented limestone pebbles and strongly calcareous loamy soil material; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) moist; massive; common fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; abrupt irregular boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
R--15 to 27 inches; white (N 8/ ) dark gray (5YR 4/1) and pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) dense limestone bedrock and strongly cemented limestone fragments with a trowelled surface and lime drips on fragments in upper part of horizon.
TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona; 600 feet north of 1/4 corner of sec. 31 and 32, T.23N., R.7W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the solum: 5 to 10 inches.
Depth to bedrock: usually 8 to 15 inches and ranges from 7 to 18 inches.
Rock fragments: The solum contains up to 30 percent fine and medium gravel and few cobbles.
Mean annual soil temperature: about 56 degrees F.
Soil moisture: These soils are usually dry during May through June and October through November, but are not continuously dry in all parts for as long as 60 consecutive days in more than 7 out of 10 years. May and June are the driest months. Aridic ustic moisture regime.
A horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: gravelly loam and gravelly light clay loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.
The Ckm horizon
Cementation: ranges from a weakly or strongly lime-cemented gravelly layer to thin lime coatings on the limestone bedrock.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Purner soils are at elevations of about 5,000 to 5,800 feet on limestone ridges and have dominant slopes of 2 to 10 percent. The soils formed on limestone and calcareous sandstone. The climate is semiarid with an average annual precipitation of 12 to 14 inches, mean annual temperature of 53 degrees F., average January temperature of 35 degrees F., and an average July temperature of 73 degrees F. The frost-free season is 130 to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dye, Partri, Poley and Rune soils and the competing Moenkopie, Tortugas and Winona soils. Dye soils have an argillic horizon and are in a fine family. Partri and Poley are deep soils that have a fine-textured argillic horizon. Rune soils lack a Ckm horizon and are deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used only as rangeland. Native vegetation is juniper, a few pinon pine, blue grama, cliffrose, cacti, Spanish dagger, snakeweed and annuals.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central Yavapai County Arizona and Larimer County Colorado. The series is of moderate extent. MLRAs 38 & 48A. Use in Colorado (MLRA 48A) should be discontinued. Soils in Larimer county Colorado are moist in May and June.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Western Yavapai County Area, Yavapai County, Arizona, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 9 inches. (A horizons)
Lithic contact - The presence of limestone bedrock at 15 inches. (R layer)
The Purner soils would have formerly been classified as Lithosols.
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006
Reclassified to an Aridic Lithic subgroup in 2006.