LOCATION RANDSBURG CA
Established Series
Rev. HLH/GWH/RWK/ARW/KJO/KP
03/2023
RANDSBURG SERIES
The Randsburg series consists of shallow to soft rock, well drained soils that formed in residuum from granitic rock. Randsburg soils are on hills and granitic rock pediments. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 5 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 66 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic, shallow Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Randsburg sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine interstitial pores; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated; about 2 percent gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A2--2 to 5 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine interstitial pores; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated; about 2 percent gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 19 inches thick)
Bt--5 to 12 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) sandy loam, dark yellowish brown(10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; common very fine and few fine tubular and interstitial pores; few thin clay films bridging mineral grains; slightly effervescent, carbonates disseminated; 5 percent fine fragments of rock; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
Crk--12 to 33 inches; weathered granitic rock with coatings of strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) on mineral grains; carbonates segregated as filaments, soft masses, and threads; weathered rock will disperse into individual minerals with soaking in water; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 25 inches thick)
Crkq--33 to 48 inches; weathered gray (10YR 6/1) granitic rock; carbonates disseminated in seams and cracks that extend at an angle into the weathered rock; few pockets of silica cemented pan which are discontinuous are found in the lower part of this horizon; weathered rock will disperse into individual minerals with soaking and shaking in water.
TYPE LOCATION: Kern County, California; 3,280 feet north and 383 feet east of the SW corner of section 7, T. 31 S., R. 39 E., MDB&M; Latitude 35 degrees, 14 minutes, 32 seconds north and Longitude 117 degrees, 50 minutes, 33 seconds west; Saltdale S.E. Quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a paralithic contact is 8 to 20 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is 62 degrees to 72 degrees F. and the soil temperature usually is not below 47 degrees F. at any time. The soil is usually dry and is not continuously moist for as long as 60 days.
The A horizon is 10YR 5/3, 5/4, 6/4 dry; 10YR 4/3, 4/4, 5/4 moist. It is sandy loam or coarse sandy loam and fine gravel is present in volumes up to 15 percent. The A1 horizon ranges in structure from weak very fine granular to weak thin platy or it may be massive. The surface of most pedons is paved with fine gravel.
The Bt horizon is 10YR 6/3, 6/4 dry; 10YR 4/3, 4/4 moist. Where this horizon is lacking the A horizon rests directly on the weathered granite.
The Cr horizon is strongly weathered granitic rock that has retained rock structure. This weathered rock will disperse into separate minerals with soaking in water or with soaking and shaking in water. In some pedons sufficient carbonate has not accumulated in the weathered granitic rock to form a Crk horizon. The carbonate occurs in other pedons as thin randomly oriented seams. Some of these small seams have silica as part of the cement, and in some pedons the small discontinuous pieces of duripan are absent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Chinkle and
Solis series. Chinkle soils have 5YR colors in the A horizon and 2.5YR colors in the subsoil, and are 20 to 30 inches to hard rock. Solis soils have appreciable summer moisture in the soil profile, have strongly effervescent C horizons, and all rock fragments are always from sandstone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Randsburg soils are on hills and granite rock pediments. The soils formed in residuum from granitic rocks. Elevations are 2,375 to 3,500 feet. Slope gradients are 2 to 50 percent. The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and cool, slightly moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 4 to 6 inches, most of which occurs as rain in the late autumn and winter. Some moisture falls occasionally as snow. Mean annual temperature is about 60 degrees to 68 degrees F., average January temperature about 45 degrees F., and July temperature about 89 degrees F. The frost-free season is 200 to 250 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Muroc soils and the
Kimberlina,
Cajon, and
Hi Vista soils. Kimberlina and Cajon soils are very deep calcareous soils that formed in granitic alluvium on alluvial fans and on stream flood plains. Also, Kimberlina soils have coarse-loamy particle-size families and the Cajon soils have sandy particle-size families. Hi Vista soils have fine-loamy particle-size families and sandy clay loam Bt horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to high runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for livestock grazing, home sites, military operations and recreation.
Vegetation is mostly creosote bush, bursage, Mormon tea, with annual grasses and forbs, with widely spaced Joshua trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Mojave Desert of California. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kern County, California, 1976.
REMARKS: The Bt horizon lacks enough clay to be an argillic horizon and lacks enough alteration to be a cambic horizon.
Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 12/2015. The last revision to the series was 12/1990. ET
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.