LOCATION SHEECAL UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, frigid Aridic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Sheecal channery loam, on a south facing, convex-concave 40 percent slope in pinyon pine, Utah juniper, and bluegrass rangeland at an elevation of 6,450 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
The surface is covered by 5 percent channers, 5 percent flagstones, and a trace of stones.
A1--0 to 2 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) channery loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine and few fine tubular pores; 10 percent channers in the horizon; very slightly effervescent, 5 percent calcium carbonate equivalent, carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary.
A2--2 to 5 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) channery loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine, few medium and coarse roots; common very fine and few fine tubular pores; 30 percent channers; very slightly effervescent, 4 percent calcium carbonate equivalent, carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (combined thickness of A horizons is 2 to 6 inches)
C1--5 to 15 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very flaggy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine and medium angular blocky geogenic structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine, medium, and coarse, common fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; 30 percent channers, 20 percent flagstones; carbonates are disseminated; slightly effervescent, 11 percent calcium carbonate equivalent, carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary.
C2--15 to 29 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) extremely flaggy loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; weak fine and medium platy geogenic structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine, medium, and coarse, common fine roots; few fine, medium, and coarse tubular pores; 30 percent channers, 35 percent flagstones; slightly effervescent, 9 percent calcium carbonate equivalent, carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (combined thickness of C horizons is 18 to 34 inches)
R--29 to 39 inches; hard fractured fine grained sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Uintah County, Utah; about .5 miles southwest of Vivas Cake Hill on Blue Mountain on USGS Stuntz Reservoir, Utah-Colo. Quadrangle; located about 2,600 feet west and 1,300 feet south of the northeast corner, section 14, T.4 S., R.25 E., SLBM; lat. 40 degrees 28 minutes 33 seconds N. and long. 109 degrees 4 minutes 5 seconds W.; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The soil moisture control section is affected by precipitation that falls evenly throughout the year with a slight increase in the late summer and fall. Ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature: 42 to 47 degrees F.
Surface rock fragments: 0 to 40 percent channers, flagstones, and stones.
Depth to lithic contact: 20 to 40 inches to sandstone, siltstone, or shale.
Particle-size control section: 18 to 27 percent clay; 35 to 75 percent rock fragments (channers, gravel, flagstones)
A horizon:
Hue: 2.5YR to 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6
Rock fragments: 15 to 35 percent channers and flagstones
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 15 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
C horizon:
Hue: 2.5 YR or 5YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6
Texture: dominantly loam - some pedons have thin layers of silty clay loam or sandy loam
Rock fragments: 35 to 75 percent channers, gravel, and flagstones.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 15 percent
Gypsum: 0 to 2 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
COMPETING SERIES: There are no current competitors.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and colluvium over residuum derived from sandstone and shale
Landform: hills
Slopes: 10 to 80 percent
Elevation: 6,500 to 7,800 feet
Mean annual air temperature: 42 to 45 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 16 inches
Frost-free period: 90 to 110 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Cortyzack,
Hideout,
Reepo, and
Tridell series.
Cortyzack soils are on hill summits and shoulders and have a mollic epipedon.
Hideout soils are on hills and have a lithic contact within 20 inches.
Tridell soils are onhills and have a mollic epipedon.
Reepo soils are on structural benches and have a sandy particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium to very high runoff, moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for woodland, rangeland, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is pinyon, Utah juniper, birchleaf mountainmahogany, Utah serviceberry, mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, and bluegrass. This soil has been correlated to the Upland Stony Loam (Pinyon-Utah Juniper) - 047XY335UT range site at the type location in Utah.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Utah. LRR E, MLRA 47. This series is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Uintah County, Dinosaur National Monument Soil Survey, Utah. 1998. The name is coined.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 29 inches. (C1 and C2 horizons)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from surface to 5 inches. (A1 and A2 horizons)
Lithic contact: The contact with sandstone at 29 inches. (R layer)
The surface texture modifier was determined following the guidelines outlined in the Utah document, "Procedures for Distributing Rock Fragments on the Surface Layer into the Upper 6 inches of Soil and Subsequent Naming of Map Units, April 1979."
Taxonomic version: Eighth Edition, 1998.
The cation exchange activity class was inferred from laboratory data from similar soils in the Uintah Area Soil Survey.