LOCATION RUHE NV

Established Series
Rev. WMA-ELS-JVC-JBF
06/2017

RUHE SERIES

The Ruhe series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in eolian sand and alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Ruhe soils are on lake terraces and beach terraces. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic, shallow Typic Torripsamments

TYPICAL PEDON: Ruhe gravelly loamy sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted). The soil surface is covered with 20 percent tufa fragments.

A1--0 to 3 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; very few fine and few medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)

A2--3 to 15 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and few medium roots; many very fine interstitial and common very fine tubular pores; 15 percent gravel ; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 18 cm thick)

C--15 to 36 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial and common very fine tubular pores; 10 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (15 to 30 cm thick)

2Cr--36 to 89 cm; weathered tufa bedrock; common very fine and few medium roots in fractures and channels only; clear irregular boundary. (25 to 100 cm thick)

3C--89 to 152 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) stratified extremely cobbly coarse sand and sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent gravel, 45 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2).

TYPE LOCATION: Washoe County, Nevada; on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation near the south end of the Lake Range; 2,600 feet west and 1,200 feet north of the southeast corner of section 21, T. 24 N., R. 23 E.; USGS Nixon NW 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 55 minutes 55.7 seconds N and longitude 119 degrees 24 minutes 12.1 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.9321389 latitude, -119.4033611 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist for short periods in winter and spring; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock: 36 to 50 cm to a paralithic contact of tufa. Tufa is a chemical sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate and silica and deposited from solution in the water of springs adjacent to lakes.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 0 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent, some of which are fragments of tufa.

A horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Structure: Single grain or weak subangular blocky in upper part and weak or moderate medium or thick platy structure in the lower part.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Other features: A portion of the gravel and sand grains are tufa.

C horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Gravelly loamy sand, gravelly sand, or loamy sand.
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent.
Structure: Single grain or massive.
Consistence: Soft or loose.
Salinity (EC): 2 to 4 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 0 to 5.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 15 percent.

3C horizon
Texture: Stratified extremely cobbly coarse sand to sand.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline.
Salinity (EC): 4 to 8 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 1 to 5.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 10 percent.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Crustown series. Crustown soils have a mean annual soil temperature of 8 to 10 degrees C, do not have tufa fragments, and do not have unconsolidated soil material below the paralithic contact.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ruhe soils are on lake terraces and beach terraces associated with the ancient shorelines of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan. They formed in eolian sand and alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. Elevations range from 1,200 to 1,350 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 125 to 175 mm, mean annual temperature is 10 to 11 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bluewing and Hawsley soils. Bluewing soils are sandy-skeletal and very deep. Hawsley soils are sandy and very deep.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; very low surface runoff; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Ruhe soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly shadscale, bud sagebrush, Bailey's greasewood, winterfat, needleandthread, and Indian ricegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 27.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washoe County (South Part), Nevada, 1980.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A1, A2 and part of the C horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 36 cm to underlying soft, weathered bedrock.
Paralithic materials - The zone from 36 to 89 cm (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 36 cm (A1, A2, and C horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: User Pedon ID: 2006NV031105.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.