LOCATION ROADCAT CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Typic Haploxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Roadcat extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand--forest land. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 35 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones, and 5 percent boulders.
A--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots and common fine; common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; 60 percent gravel, 5 percent cobbles, and 5 percent stones; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (4 to 9 inches thick)
Bw--8 to 19 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) extremely gravelly coarse sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots and common fine; common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; 55 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
C1--19 to 36 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine interstitial and tubular pores; 55 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (12 to 20 inches thick)
C2--36 to 60 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) extremely gravelly loamy coarse sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 70 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Alpine County, California; on the Toiyabe National Forest in Hope Valley about 30 feet east of Highway 88; approximately 1,550 feet south and 200 feet east of the northwest corner of section 6, T. 10 N., R. 19 E.; USGS Freel Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 38 degrees 45 minutes 51.4 seconds north latitude and 119 degrees 56 minutes 23.3 seconds west longitude, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually moist in the moisture control section during late fall, winter, and spring; dry from mid-July through September for 60 to 80 consecutive days in the four months following the summer solstice; Typic xeric moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 44 to 47 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature - 59 to 62 degrees F.
Ochric epipedon thickness - 4 to 9 inches.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 10 to 21 inches.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 5 to 10 percent; Sand content: More than 35 percent medium and coarser sand; Rock fragments: Averages 60 to 80 percent, dominantly gravel. Lithology of fragments are mainly granitic rocks such as granodiorite.
A horizon - Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Reaction: Moderately acid or slightly acid.
Organic matter content: 2 to 4 percent.
Base saturation by ammonium acetate: 30 to 50 percent.
Bw horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Clay content: 8 to 12 percent.
Rock fragments: 60 to 80 percent, dominantly gravel.
Reaction: Moderately acid to neutral.
Base saturation by ammonium acetate: 60 to 90 percent.
C horizons - Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Clay content: 3 to 10 percent.
Rock fragments: 60 to 80 percent, dominantly gravel.
Reaction: Moderately acid to neutral.
Base saturation by ammonium acetate: 60 to 90 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Wagontown and Yellowbay series.
Wagontown soils are deep to lithic contacts. Yellowbay soils have less than 35 percent medium and coarser sand in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Roadcat soils are on moraines. They formed in till derived mainly from granitic rock. Slopes are 4 to 30 percent. Elevations range from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. The climate is subhumid-continental with cold, moist winters and cool, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 30 to 45 inches, mean annual temperature is 39 to 45 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 40 to 70 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Burnlake and Hopeval soils. Burnlake soils are loamy-skeletal and have umbric epipedons. Hopeval soils are coarse-loamy, have mollic epipedons, and have aquic conditions within 20 inches of the soil surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; low surface runoff; rapid permeability (high or very high saturated hydraulic conductivity).
USE AND VEGETATION: Roadcat soils are used for forest land, recreation, watershed, and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation is mainly a sparse forest canopy of lodgepole pine and Jeffrey pine with an understory of mountain big sagebrush, bottlebrush squirreltail, needlegrass, and sedge.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern California, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range. These soils are not extensive with about 2,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 22A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alpine County (Toiyabe National Forest Area), California, 2006.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 8 inches (A horizon).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 8 to 19 inches (Bw horizon).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (C1 horizon and parts of the Bw and C2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: The typical pedon at the series type location has partial characterization data from the Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL), Lincoln, NE as soil survey sample number S99CA-003-009 (pedon # 00P0472).