LOCATION RED BUTTE UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Calcic Argixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Red Butte very cobbly loam, rangeland (Colors are for air dry soils unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 8 cm; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) very cobbly loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak medium platy structure parting to thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; vesicular pores; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 15 cm thick)
A2--8 to 20 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) cobbly loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak medium blocky structure parting to weak fine blocky structure; slightly hard, friable and slightly sticky, moderately plastic; many fine, medium and few large roots; common fine and medium tubular pores; few thin clay films; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (13 to 15 cm thick)
Bt--20 to 41 cm; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very cobbly clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; moderate coarse blocky structure parting to fine angular blocky structure; very hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine, medium and few large roots; common fine, medium and few large tubular pores; few thin clay films; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (20 to 25 cm thick)
Bk1--41 to 51 cm; white (7.5YR 8/1) cobbly sandy loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) moist; massive; strongly cemented in places, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common fine and medium roots; no pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 10 cm thick)
Bk2--51 to 152 cm; pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) very cobbly sandy loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) moist; massive; weakly cemented in places, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few fine and medium roots; few fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Beaver County, Utah; Pine Creek 18 miles north of Beaver; about 575 feet east and 2,200 feet south of the northwest corner of sec. 34, T.26S., R. 7W.; USGS Cinder Crater 7.5 minute quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 30 minutes 23 seconds N and longitude 112 degrees 38 minutes 9 seconds W; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Moist in winter and spring and continuously dry in all parts for significant periods in summer and fall; xeric soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 8.5 to 12 degrees C.
Mean summer soil temperature: 17 to 18.5 degrees C .
Depth to the base of the argillic horizon: 33 to 50 cm.
Depth to the calcic horizon: 33 to 50 cm.
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (432 acres of a deep to bedrock phase have been correlated).
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 27 to 35 percent.
Sand content: More than 15 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent.
A horizon
Value: 3 through 5 dry, and 2 or 3 moist.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
Bt horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: Very gravelly clay loam or very cobbly clay loam.
Sand content: More than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand.
Structure: Moderate coarse to fine angular blocky structure
Reaction: Slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline
Bk horizon
Hue: 7.5 YR or 10YR.
Value: 5 through 8 dry, 4 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 4.
Texture: Sandy loam, loam or occasionally clay loam.
Rock fragments: 35 to 65 percent; cobbles and gravel.
Carbonates: Strongly or weakly cemented in places and massive.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline to strongly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Butterfield, Kapod, Schuelke and Tannahill series.
Butterfield and Schuelke soils are moderately deep. Kapod soils have calcic horizons below 52 to 83 cm and depth to base of Bt horizon greater than 52 cm. Tannahill soils are deep to basalt bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Red Butte soils are on alluvial and colluvial slopes, fan remnants and rolling hills at elevations of 1,524 to 2,286 meters. Slopes are 0 to 50 percent. The soils formed in intermediate igneous and sedimentary parent rocks. The climate is dry subhumid. Mean annual air temperature is 7 to 11 degrees C., mean summer temperature is about 18 to 19 degrees C., and the average annual precipitation is about 300 to 400 mm. The frost free period is about 90 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Deer Creek, Pharo, Flowell and Pass Canyon soils. Deer Creek soils have more than 35 percent clay and a mean annual soil temperature less than 8.5 degrees C. Pharo soils have more than 50 percent rock fragments of gravel size, and do not have Bt horizons. Flowell soils have a fine particle-size class. Pass Canyon soils are less than 52 cm deep over bedrock and do not have horizons of high lime accumulation.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium and high runoff; moderate permeability; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for wildlife and spring or summer grazing by sheep and cattle. Present vegetation is juniper, sagebrush, bitterbrush, and Gambel oak.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountain areas of southwestern Utah. This series is of moderate extent. MLRA 28A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Beaver County, Utah, 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from 0 to 20 cm. (A1, A2 horizons)
Argillic horizon - The zone from 20 to 41 cm. (Bt horizon)
Calcic horizon - The zone from 40 to 152 cm. (Bk1, Bk2 horizons)
Particle-size control section: The zone from 20 to 41 cm (Bt horizon).
Classification change from Aridic Calcic Argixerolls to Calcic Argixerolls in 9/94.