LOCATION ROUNDY UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic Abruptic Palecryolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Roundy loam, rangeland,woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A11--0 to 2 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine roots; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
A12--2 to 16 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) light loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak coarse and fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and medium roots; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear irregular boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
A13--16 to 24 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very cobbly fine sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse and very fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and common medium roots; common fine pores; thin continuous gray coatings; 60 percent cobbles and stones; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
A2--24 to 31 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very cobbly very fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure that parts to single grained; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; 60 percent cobbles and stones; slightly acid (pH 6.3); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 9 inches thick)
B21t--31 to 48 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) when crushed, cobbly clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) on surfaces of peds; strong coarse angular blocky structure that parts to medium angular blocky; extremely hard extremely firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine, medium and coarse roots; thick continuous clay films; 20 percent cobbles and stones; strongly acid (pH 5.3); clear irregular boundary. (9 to 22 inches thick)
B22t--48 to 54 inches; reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) and reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very cobbly clay; some faces of peds reddish brown (5YR 4/4); strong blocky structure; thick continuous clay films on surfaces of peds and rock fragments; 70 percent angular sandstone rock fragments; otherwise same as B21t.
R--54 inches; fractured sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Wasatch County, Utah; west side road at Daniels Summit and NW past Oakelberry sheep corral, 500 feet SE of drainage; 1,340 feet north and 90 feet west of SE corner of section 24, T.5S., R.5E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is more than 40 inches. The mollic epipedon is 24 inches thick or less and organic matter decreases regularly with increasing depth. The upper boundary of the argillic horizon is deeper than 24 inches. The textural change from the A2 to the B2t horizon exceeds 20 percent increase in clay, with an abrupt boundary. The mean annual soil temperature is about 40 degrees F., and the mean summer soil temperature at 20-inch depth is about 58 degrees F. The soils are usually moist and are dry less than 90 cumulative days in some subhorizon. Commonly, an organic layer of leaf litter 0 to 3 inches thick occurs on the surface.
The A1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist and chroma of 2 or 3.
The A2 horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist and chroma of 2 or 3. It is cobbly or very cobbly very fine sandy loam and has 40 to 60 percent rock fragments.
The B2t horizon has hue of 2.5YR through 10YR, dominantly 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 5 or 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist and chroma of 3 through 6. It is cobbly clay or cobbly heavy clay loam and has more than 35 percent clay. Rock fragments range from 15 to 35 percent cobbles and stones in the upper part and increase to 70 percent in the lower part adjacent to the underlying fractured bedrock. Structure in the B2t horizon ranges from strong coarse to medium angular blocky. Reaction is strong or medium acid.
The underlying fractured sandstone has cracks and crevices filled with material similar to the B2t horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Baird Hollow, Bear Basin, Clayburn, Everman, Flygare and Scave series. All of these soils except Scave lack the abrupt textural change at the upper boundary of the argillic horizon. Bear Basin and Clayburn soils have argillic horizons with less than 35 percent clay and with the upper boundary within 24 inches of the surface. Clayburn soils lack A2 horizons. Flygare soils have mollic epipedons more than 24 inches thick and argillic horizons containing less than 35 percent clay and more than 35 percent rock fragments. Scave soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments throughout the argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Roundy soils occur on sloping to very steep mountain slopes with slope gradients of 5 percent. They formed in residuum, colluvium and alluvium from mixed sedimentary parent rocks. Elevation ranges from 6,500 feet on steep north exposure to 8,500 feet on other exposures. The climate is humid with an average annual precipitation of 25 to 35 inches falling mostly as snow. Mean annual temperature is about 40 F. and the mean summer temperature is about 58 F. Frost-free period is about 50 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cluff and Daybell soils. Cluff soils lack a mollic epipedon and have argillic horizons containing more than 35 percent rock fragments and with the upper boundary within 24 inches of the surface. Daybell soils lack argillic horizons and have very gravelly loamy sand control sections with fines too few to fill the voids.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for watershed, summer grazing by livestock and wildlife, and limited timber production. Native plants include an overstory of aspen with widely spaced Douglas-fir, white fir, subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce. The understory is snowberry, elderberry, mountain bromegrass, blue wildrye, oniongrass, slender wheatgrass, bearded wheatgrass, peavine, horsemint, bluebells, columbine, geranium, sweet anise and western valerian.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountain area of Utah. This series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Heber Valley Area, Wasatch County, Utah, 1972.
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state 6/76.