LOCATION RANGECREEK              UT

Established Series
Rev. CSW/RJL/JWB
03/2011

RANGECREEK SERIES

The Rangecreek series consists of shallow and very shallow, well drained soils that formed in colluvium and slope alluvium derived from sedimentary rock over residuum from sandstone and shale. Rangecreek soils are on hills, mountain slopes and structural benches. Slopes range from 15 to 70 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 35 cm and the mean annual temperature is about 5.3 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, frigid, shallow Aridic Ustorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Rangecreek gravelly loam , on a west-southwest facing, convex, 30 percent slope in a Utah juniper-pinyon stand at an elevation of 2,037 meters. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) When described on October 24, 2005 the soil was slightly moist from 0 to 44 cm. The surface is covered by 5 percent cobbles, 5 percent channers and 35 percent gravel, of calcareous sandstone origin.

A--0 to 6 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3), moist; weak fine granular structure; very friable, soft, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common coarse, medium and very fine and few fine roots; many very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 2 percent cobbles, 5 percent channers, 25 percent gravel; strongly effervescent (14 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are finely disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 7.9); abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 15 cm thick)

Bw--6 to 17 cm; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4), moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; common coarse, medium and very fine and few fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent (18 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), very few carbonate coats on bottom surfaces of rock fragments, carbonates are finely disseminated in matrix; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 14 cm thick)

C1--17 to 28 cm; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) paragravelly loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4), moist; moderate fine angular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, slightly sticky, moderately plastic; few coarse, common medium and very fine and few fine roots; few fine interstitial and common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; 3 percent gravel, 15 percent paragravel; strongly effervescent (16 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are finely disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary.

C2--28 to 44 cm; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) very paragravelly clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4), moist; moderate fine angular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few fine and very fine roots; few fine and very fine interstitial pores; 40 percent paragravel; strongly effervescent (15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent), carbonates are finely disseminated in matrix; moderately alkaline (pH 8.3); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the C horizon is 15 to 33 cm)

Cr--44 to 69 cm; weathered calcareous shale bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Emery County, Utah; about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) NNE of Woodside; located about 2,200 feet west and 400 feet south of the NE corner of sec. 7, T. 17 S., R. 15 E.; Woodside, Utah USGS quad; lat. 39 degrees 22 minutes 2.9 seconds N. and long. 110 degrees 17 minutes 37.2 seconds W., NAD 83

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is usually moist in some part during summer and early fall, and intermittently dry in late fall; ustic moisture regime, aridic moisture regime subclass.
Mean annual soil temperature: 4.4 to 8.3 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature: 14.4 to 18.3 degrees C
Depth to paralithic contact: 20 to 51 cm to weathered shale and sandstone

Particle-size control section (weighted averages):
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Fine sand and coarser sand content: greater than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand
Rock fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, dominantly channers and gravel and channer- and gravel-size parafragments

A horizon:
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 5 or 6 dry; 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist
Texture: gravelly loam, very stony loam, extremely stony fine sandy loam
Clay content: 12 to 27 percent
Rock fragments: 15 to 80 percent total; 0 to 30 percent basalt or sedimentary stones, 0 to 25 percent basalt or sedimentary cobbles, 0 to 30 percent sedimentary channers and gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 15 percent
EC (mmhos/cm): 0 to 8
Gypsum: 0 to 1 percent
SAR: 0 to 6
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Bw horizon, when present:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 5 or 6 dry; 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam, gravelly loam
Clay content: 25 to 35 percent noncarbonate clay
Rock fragments: 0 to 20 percent total; 0 to 10 percent basalt or sedimentary cobbles, 0 to 20 percent sedimentary gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 3 to 18 percent
EC (mmhos/cm): 0 to 8
Gypsum: 0 to 2 percent
SAR: 0 to 8
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline

C horizons:
Hue: 2.5Y or 5Y
Value: 5 to 7 dry; 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 dry or moist
Texture: paragravelly loam, gravelly loam, parachannery clay loam, very paragravelly loam, very paragravelly clay loam, very parachannery clay loam
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent noncarbonate clay
Rock fragments: 0 to 60 percent total; 0 to 5 percent sedimentary stones, 0 to 10 percent sedimentary cobbles, 0 to 35 percent sedimentary channers and/or gravel
Pararock fragments: 0 to 60 percent parachanners and/or paragravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 18 percent
EC (mmhos/cm): 0 to 8
Gypsum: 0 to 3 percent
SAR: 0 to 8
Reaction: slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Blacksheep and Cabbart series. The Blacksheep series has less than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Both the Blacksheep and Cabbart soils have moisture control sections affected by peak periods of precipitation in the spring and early summer.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Colluvium and slope alluvium derived from calcareous sedimentary rock over residuum weathered from calcareous sandstone and shale. Some areas near Capitol Reef National Park have a thin surface mantle of colluvial basalt stones and cobbles.
Landform: hills, mountain slopes, structural bench sideslopes
Slopes: 15 to 70 percent
Elevation: 1,890 to 2,621 meters
Mean annual temperature: 3.3 to 7.2 degrees C
Mean annual precipitation: 30.5 to 40.6 cm
Precipitation pattern: Wettest months are July to October and driest months are December and June.
Frost-free period: 85 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Foy (T), Podo, Rabbitex, Skein, and Tosca series. The Foy and Rabbitex soils are very deep and deep, respectively, have a calcic horizon, and are on lower mountainflanks. The Rabbitex soils are on north aspects under Wyoming big sagebrush. The Podo soils have a cambic horizon and a lithic contact and are intermixed with the Rangecreek soils. The Skein soils have a calcic horizon and are on tops of structural benches. The Tosca soils have a mollic epipedon and a calcic horizon and are on north aspects at higher elevations under mountain shrubs.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: well drained, high or very high runoff, moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation includes Utah juniper, pinyon, birchleaf and alderleaf mountain mahogany, black sagebrush, Utah serviceberry, Stansbury cliffrose, Salina wildrye, Indian ricegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, and needleandthread.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, South, and Southern Rocky Mountains; LRR E, MLRA 47, 48A; small extent. About 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) in Emery, Sevier, and Carbon Counties, Utah mapped to date.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Emery County, Utah, Emery Area, Utah, 2011, Parts of Emery, Carbon, Grand and Sevier Counties soil survey area. Named for Range Creek, a major drainage in the Book Cliffs near the type location.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Series control section: The zone from 0 to 69 cm, which is 25 cm below the paralithic contact.
Particle-size control section: The zone from 25 to 44 cm. (C2 and lower part of C1 horizons)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 6 cm. (A horizon)
Paralithic contact: The contact with weathered shale at 44 cm. (Cr horizon)

The assignment of the cation-exchange activity class is inferred from lab data from similar soils in the surrounding area.

Taxonomic Version: Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eleventh Edition, 2010.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.