LOCATION RETSABAL                UT

Established Series
Rev: RSJ/RLB/VLP
10/2018

RETSABAL SERIES

The Retsabal series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in residuum derived from Carmel formation gypsum. Retsabal soils are on stable structural benches and knolls on structural benches with slopes of 2 to 50 percent. Average annual precipitation is about 11 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 49 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-gypseous, hypergypsic, mesic, shallow Leptic Haplogypsids

TYPICAL PEDON: Retsabal very fine sandy loam-rangeland. (Colors are for air-dry soil unless otherwise stated)

A--0 to 1 inch; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) very fine sandy loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; moderate thin platy structure; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; few very fine and fine pores; strongly effervescent, moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 2 inches thick)

Cyy1--1 to 3 inches; white (10YR 8/1) gypsiferous very fine sandy loam (more than 70 percent raw decayed gypsum), very pale brown (10YR 7/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; slightly effervescent, moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)

Cyy2--3 to 15 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) gypsiferous loam (more than 70% weathered gypsum), light gray (10YR 7/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; strongly effervescent, moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (9 to 15 inches thick)

Cr--15 inches; Carmel formation gypsum bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Garfield County, Utah; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; about 1 miles east of Buckaroo Flat; Sunset Flat Quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 36 minutes 38.41 seconds North and longitude 111 degrees 18 minutes 12.96 seconds West, NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Mean annual soil temperature: 47 to 57 degrees F.

Soil moisture: Ustic aridic moisture regime

Depth to paralithic bedrock: 4 to 20 inches

Particle size control section averages:
Clay content: 8 to 20 percent clay

A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
This thin horizon (0 to 3 inches thick) is heavily influenced by eolian moved materials with highly contrasting hues, values and chromas unrelated to the underlying horizons

Cyy horizons
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 5 to 8 moist
Chroma: 1 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: gypsiferous very fine sandy loam, gypsiferous fine sandy loam, gypsiferous loam, gypsiferous sandy loam
Effervescence: slightly to strongly effervescent
Reaction: slightly to moderately alkaline
Gypsum content: 40 to 80 percent
The bulk density is assumed to be low in the range of 1.00 to 1.20 g/cc

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competeing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Retsabal soils are on structural benches, knolls on structural benches, and hills formed in residuum derived from Carmel, Moenkopie, and Paradox gypsum formations. The slope is 2 to 50 percent. The elevation is 4,590 to 7,200 feet. The mean annual air temperature is 45 to 55 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is 9 to 13 inches. The frost-free period is 120 to 175 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Lemrac, Rizno, and Progresso soils. Lemrac soils are on gypsum knolls, but are moderately deep. Progresso soils are on low knolls and small benches and are moderately deep to sandstone. Rizno soils exist on hills and knolls and are shallow to sandstone bedrock contacts.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, low to medium runoff; moderate to moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used mainly for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Potential native vegetation is Torrey Mormontea, Green Mormontea, Indian ricegrass, broom snakeweed and scattered Utah Juniper and two-needle pinyon. These soils have been correlated to the Semidesert Shallow Gypsum (Mormontea) 035XY237UT ecological site at the type location in Utah.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Utah areas of highly gypsiferous materials. This series is of small extent (less than 10,000 acres). MLRA is 35.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Soil Survey, Garfield County, Utah, 2004. The name Retsabal is coined.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Fine-gypseous particle family - this soil contains less than 50 percent particles with diameters of 0.1 to 2mm.

Hypegypsic mineralogy - this soil contains more than 70 percent raw decayed gypsum in the C horizon

Paralithic contact - the weakly to moderately cemented relatively unaltered Carmel formation alabaster gypsum at 15 inches (Cr horizon)

Soils classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

Updates and revisions for the correlation of Arches National Park (UT687), February 2009, CEM
Updates and revisions for the correlation of Capitol Reef National Park, January 2013, WWJ
Updates and revisions for the correlation of Kane County, UT642, July 2017, CEM

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.