LOCATION RIPLEY                  CA+AZ NV

Established Series
Rev. RKA/NEE/LCL/ET
12/2015

RIPLEY SERIES

The Ripley series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in alluvium from mixed rock sources. They are on flood plains and alluvial fans. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 5 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 72 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, hyperthermic Typic Torrifluvents

TYPICAL PEDON: Ripley silty clay loam - irrigated alfalfa. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).

Ap--0 to 12 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak thin and medium platy structure; hard, very firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many fine roots; common fine pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)

C1--12 to 20 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; common fine and medium tubular and irregular pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual irregular boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)

C2--20 to 32 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) very fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; few fine distinct reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/8) redoximorphic features; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; common fine tubular and many very fine and fine vesicular pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 24 inches thick)

2C3--32 to 60 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) fine sand, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; single grained; loose; few fine and very fine roots to about 48 inches; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0). (Several feet thick)

TYPE LOCATION: Riverside County, California; about 1 mile northeast of Blythe; 700 feet west of Intake Boulevard and E 1/4 corner of section 21, T.6 S. R.23 E.; USGS Blythe N.E. 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 33 degrees 38 minutes 1 second north latitude and 114 degrees 34 minutes 24 seconds west longitude; UTM 11s, 725089e, 3724173n: NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and spring months. The soil has a typic aridic moisture regime.

Contrasting texture: Fine sand or loamy fine sand occurs at a depth of 20 to 40 inches below the surface.

Soil temperature - 72 to 78 degrees F.

Organic matter: less than 0.5 percent and decreases irregularly with depth due to fine stratification

C horizons - Hue: 2.5Y, 7.5 or 10YR
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist
Texture: Upper part of the control section is silt loam, silt or very fine sandy loam with less than 18 percent clay and less than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand. Some pedons have thin layers of silty clay loam mixed in the upper part but average less than 18 percent clay.
Structure: Massive or has platy structure related to stratification or has weak subangular blocky structure.
Effervescence: Strong effervescence or violent effervescence in the upper part. Slightly effervescence to strong effervescence in the lower part (2C3 horizon).
Eletrical conductivity:0 to 50 dS/m
SAR-0 to 15.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series at this time.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ripley soils are on flood plains and alluvial fans. These soils formed in alluvium derived from mixed rock sources. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent but are usually less than 1 percent. Elevations are minus 225 to 1,400 feet. The climate is hot and arid. The mean annual precipitation is about 2 to 7 inches. The mean January temperature is about 53 degrees F., the mean July temperature about 92 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature is 70 to 76 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 250 to 365 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Aco, Carrizo, Chuckawalla, Imperial, Orita, and Rositas soils and the similar Cibola, Holtville, Indio and Meloland series. Aco soils have distinct calcium carbonate segregations and are on higher terraces. Carrizo soils are sandy and gravelly throughout the control section. Chuckawalla and Orita soils are on higher terraces and have argillic horizons. Imperial soils have more than 35 percent clay in the 10 to 40 inch zone. Rositas soils are sand or loamy sand in the 10 to 40 inch zone.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low runoff; moderate permeability. Ground water is deeper than 6 feet.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are intensively cultivated and are used for a variety of irrigated field and truck crops. Unimproved areas have a sparse cover of desert shrubs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Low desert areas of southern California, Nevada and southwestern Arizona. These soils are moderately extensive. Occurs in MLRA 31 and 40.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Riverside County, California; 1971.

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

Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons

Classified according to Key to Soil Taxonomy, Ninth Edition, 2003.

Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 12/2015. The last revision to the series was 4/2006. ET

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.