LOCATION SESAME             CA
Established Series
Rev. GJ/RAD/RWK/SBS
05/2001

SESAME SERIES


The Sesame series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in material weathered from granitic rocks. Sesame soils are foothills and mountainous uplands and have slopes of 0 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches and the mean annual air tempewrture is about 62 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haploxeralfs

TYPICAL PEDON: Sesame sandy loam, range. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 8 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) heavy sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; common fine pores; about 4 percent fine rock fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)

Bt1--8 to 17 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) light sandy clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, slightly sticky and plastic; few fine roots; few fine pores; moderately thick nearly continuous clay films; about 2 percent fine rock fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)

Bt2--17 to 27 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) light sandy clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; few thin patchy clay films; about 2 percent fine rock fragments; slightly acid (pH 6.5); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)

Cr--27 to 40 inches; varied colored light and dark mostly physically weathered granitic rock.

TYPE LOCATION: Madera County, California; north side of Highway 145 and 1 3/4 miles west of junction of State Highways 41 and 145.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a paralithic contact is 20 to 40 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is about 60 to 65 degrees F. The soil between depths of about 5 and 15 inches usually is dry all of the time from late April or May until November or early December and is moist in some or part of the moisture control section all the rest of the year. Rock fragments less than 3 inches in diameter make up about 1 to 15 percent of the soil profile. Coarse and very coarse sand make up 12 to 22 percent of the profile.

The A horizon is grayish brown to dark brown (10YR 5/2, 4/2, 5/3, 4/3; 2.5Y 5/2). It is sandy loam or loam. This horizon is massive in some or all of the parts or it has weak granular or subangular blocky structure in some or all parts. This horizon has in all parts less than 1 percent organic matter. It is neutral to medium acid. The lower boundary is clear or gradual.

The Bt1 horizon is brown or dark brown (10YR 5/3, 4/3). In some pedons the lower part of this horizon is dark brown, brown, or light brown (7.5YR 4/4, 5/4 or 6/4). It is heavy loam or sandy clay loam and has 18 to 27 percent clay. The absolute clay increase from the A horizon to the Bt2 horizon is 3 to 8 percent. The Bt2 horizon has weak to moderate angular or subangular blocky structure. It is neutral or slightly acid.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Arbuckle, Blasingame, Borden, Bressa, Esparto, Fallbrook, Montpellier, Ramona, Snelling, Tivy, Wasioja and Wyman series. Arbuckle, Borden, Esparto, Fallbrook, Montpellier, Ramona, Snelling, Wasioja and Wyman soils lack a paralithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. Blasingame soils have hue of 5YR or 7.5YR in all parts of the argillic horizon. Bressa soils have less than 10 percent coarse and very coarse sand, and have 30 to 35 percent clay. Comparison to Tivy soils explained in remarks.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Sesame soils are on foothills and mountainous uplands at elevation of 300 to 2,000 feet. Gradient is 0 to 75 percent. The soils formed in material weathered from granite, quartz diorite, gabbrodiorite and metamorphic basic volcanic rocks. The climate is subhumid mesothermal with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 25 inches. The average January temperature is 48 to 53 degrees F.; the average July temperature is 75 to 79 degrees F.; and the mean annual temperature is 59 to 65 degrees F. The frost free season is 200 to 300 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Fallbrook soils and the Honcut, Los Robles, and Vista soils. Honcut soils lack a paralithic contact and lack an argillic horizon. Los Robles soils lack a paralithic contact and have a cambic horizon. Vista soils lack an argillic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to very rapid runoff; moderate or moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for grazing. Small areas used for growing small grains. Vegetation is mainly annual grasses and forbs with some scattered blue oak, interior live oak and a few scattered shrubs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, California. The soils are of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Merced County (Merced Area), California, 1953.

REMARKS: Study shows that the Tivy soils of the Eastern Fresno Area, California, are essentially the same as the Sesame soils in soil properties. Parent material of the Tivy soils were presumed to be higher in basic mineral rock source. Tivy soils seem to have only a few percent fewer coarse and very coarse sand grains than average Sesame soils. Possibly the Tivy soils could be correlated to the Sesame series. The Tivy series will not be established unless better differentiae are developed.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.