LOCATION SELAH                   WA

Established Series
Rev. CDL/RJE/KWH/RWL
09/2019

SELAH SERIES

Landscape--plateaus, hills
Landform--alluvial fans, dissected terraces, hillslopes
Slope--0 to 45 percent
Parent material--loess and old alluvium of the Ellensburg Formation
Mean annual precipitation--about 250 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about 11 degrees C
Depth class--moderately deep to a duripan
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--aridic (bordering xeric)
Soil temperature regime--mesic
Soil moisture subclass--xeric

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Argiduridic Durixerolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Selah silt loam in an abandoned field (All textures are apparent field textures.)

Ap--0 to 10 cm; silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate thin platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many roots; few fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt smooth boundary

A--10 to 18 cm; silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common roots; few fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.2); clear wavy boundary

AB--18 to 33 cm; silt loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few roots; common fine tubular pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear wavy boundary

Bt1--33 to 61 cm; silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium prismatic structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and plastic; few roots; many fine tubular pores; few faint patchy clay films and siliceous coatings on surfaces of peds; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear wavy boundary

Bt2--61 to 74 cm; silty clay loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few roots; common fine tubular pores; few faint patchy clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary

Btk--74 to 86 cm; clay loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few roots; few fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; free lime on surfaces and in veins of peds; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary

2Bkqm--86 to 150 cm; indurated, lime- and silica-cemented duripan

TYPE LOCATION: Yakima County, Washington; about 425 m west and 210 m north of the southeast corner of section 26, T. 14 N., R. 18 E.; Selah U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle; latitude 46 degrees 40 minutes 3 seconds north and longitude 120 degrees 32 minutes 5 seconds west

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--10 to 13 degrees C
Soil moisture--dry between depths of 20 and 30 cm one-half to three-fourths the time when the soil temperature is higher than 5 degrees C
Depth to duripan--50 to 100 cm
Thickness of mollic epipedon--18 to 41 cm
Argillic horizon--18 to 35 percent clay; more than 15 percent particles coarser than very fine sand; 0 to 30 percent rock fragments

Ap horizon
Thickness--8 to 20 cm

A and AB horizons
Value--4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma--2 or 3 dry or moist
Texture--silt loam, loam
Reaction--5.6 to 7.3
Thickness of A horizon--0 to 18 cm
Thickness of AB horizon--0 to 20 cm

Bt horizon
Value--5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma--2 to 4 moist or dry
Texture--loam, silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam
Clay films--faint, patchy, on faces of peds
Reaction--6.6 to 8.4
Combined thickness--25 to 50 cm

Btk horizon
Value--5 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma--2 to 4 moist or dry
Texture--clay loam, silt loam, gravelly clay loam, cobbly clay loam, silty clay loam
Rock fragment content--0 to 30 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent--5 to 15 percent
Reaction--7.4 to 9.0
Thickness--8 to 30 cm

2Bkqm horizon
Kind of material--indurated, gravelly to extremely gravelly matrix 15 to 90 cm thick and plates 3 to 15 cm thick underlain by weakly cemented to strongly cemented alluvial material

COMPETING SERIES:
Deerhorn--56 to 89 cm (moderately deep) to a lithic contact (basalt); 15 to 30 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in Bk horizon
Schnipper--weakly cemented or moderately cemented Bkqm horizon that has a laminar indurated silica cap 3 to 13 mm thick; 0 to 25 percent durinodes in Bkq horizon
Seval--50 to 100 cm (moderately deep) to a duripan; mean annual soil temperature of 8 to 9 degrees C; 15 to 35 percent rock fragments in particle-size control section; 35 to 45 percent clay in lower part of argillic horizon; 10 to 20 days of convection storms in summer

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation--150 to 880 m
Climate--semiarid; hot, dry summers; cool, moist winters
Mean annual precipitation--200 to 380 mm
Mean annual air temperature--9 to 13 degrees C
Frost-free season--130 to 180 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Harwood--on uplands; no argillic horizon; 50 to 100 cm (moderately deep) to a silica-cemented duripan
Ritzville--on hills; no duripan within a depth of 100 cm or more
Roza--on uplands; no duripan
Willis--on uplands; no argillic horizon

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--well drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--moderately high above the duripan and low in the duripan

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--irrigated crop production, livestock grazing
Native vegetation--beardless wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, Wyoming big sagebrush

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Washington; MLRAs 7 and 8; small extent

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kittitas County, Washington; 1937

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and other features recognized in this pedon
*Mollic epipedon--zone from the surface to a depth of 33 cm
*Argillic horizon--zone from 33 to 86 cm
*Depth to indurated duripan--86 cm
*Particle-size control section--zone from 33 to 83 cm

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.