LOCATION SCHOONER           WY
Established Series
Rev. PSD
8/86

SCHOONER SERIES


The Schooner series consists of shallow, well to excessively drained soils that formed in material weathered from sandstone. Schooner soils are on ridges and hillsides and have slopes of 2 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 13 inches, and the mean annual temperature is about 47 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Lithic Torripsamments

TYPICAL PEDON: Schooner loamy sand-grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 4 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) loamy sand, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; single grained; loose; neutral (pH 6.6); gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)

C--4 to 14 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) fine sand, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; single grained; loose; neutral (pH 6.6); smooth boundary. (4 to 17 inches thick)

R--14 inches; hard, red, noncalcareous sandstone.

TYPE LOCATION: Johnson County, Wyoming; NW1/4, NW1/4 of sec. 1, T. 43 N., R. 81 W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the lithic contact is 10 to 20 inches. The soil is 90 to 100 percent base saturated. Coarse fragments are typically less than 5 percent and range from 0 to 15 percent. The particle-size control section is sand or loamy sand with a relatively small percentage of medium sand or coarser. The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 53 degrees F. Typically, the control section is noncalcareous, but some pedons may be weakly calcareous when over weakly calcareous sandstone. No K horizons occur within the profile.

The A1 horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5YR, value of 6 or 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 3 through 6. It is soft to loose and slightly acid through mildly alkaline.

The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 10R. It is slightly acid through mildly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: THESE ARE THE Moret, Sunup, and Travessilla series. Moret soils have a loamy particle-size control section and hue of 10YR or yellower. Sunup soils have a loamy-skeletal particle-size control section. Travessilla soils have a loamy particle-size control section.

2- Schooner Series

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Schooner soils are on ridges and hillslopes in areas where reddish colored sandstone is close to the surface. Slopes range from 2 to 30 percent. Elevation is 4,500 to 5,500 feet. These soils formed in reddish brown, noncalcareous, coarse textured sediments derived from the weathering of reddish brown, usually noncalcareous sandstone. At the type location the average annual precipitation is 12 to 14 inches with peak periods of precipitation during the spring and early summer. The average annual temperature is 47 degrees F. The frost-free season is 100 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Pugsley and Southfork soils. Pugsley soils have an argillic horizon and have bedrock at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Southfork soils have a loamy particle-size control section and are calcareous.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well to excessively drained; slow runoff; rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used principally as native rangeland. Native vegetation is cactus, three-awn, needlegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: North-central Wyoming. The series is of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Johnson County (Southern Johnson County Area), Wyoming; 1971.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.