LOCATION SLATERY                 NV

Established Series
Rev: DPC/JBF/WED/JBF
06/2016

SLATERY SERIES

The Slatery series consists of very shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from siltstone and related sedimentary rocks. Slatery soils are on hills and mountain slopes. Slopes are 8 to 50 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 180 mm and mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Typic Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Slatery very gravelly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 65 percent gravel and 15 percent cobbles.

A1--0 to 5 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak medium platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; common very fine and fine vesicular pores; 45 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 cm thick)

A2--5 to 15 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine and common fine interstitial pores; 20 percent hard gravel, 5 percent cobbles, 20 percent soft flat gravel that break down upon wetting; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 15 cm thick)

Bk--15 to 25 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine to medium roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent hard gravel, 25 percent soft flat gravels that break down upon wetting, 5 percent hard cobbles; many thin carbonate filaments coating undersides of gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 13 cm thick)

Cr--25 cm; highly fractured siltstone; many carbonate coatings on surface of fragments.

TYPE LOCATION: Esmeralda County, Nevada; about 1,300 feet south and 1,900 feet east of the northwest corner of section 36, T. 7 S., R. 41 1/2 E.; USGS Gold Point 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 17 minutes 31.7 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 19 minutes and 33.2 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 37.2923333 latitude, -117.3261111 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, but moist in some part for short periods during the winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July to October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to paralithic contact: 10 to 30 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 35 percent after wetting; 35 to 50 percent before wetting (about one-half the apparent rock fragments slake during soaking).

A horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Structure: Platy or subangular blocky.
Carbonates: Slightly effervescent through strongly effervescent.

Bk horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Texture: Averages loam.
Structure: Massive or subangular blocky.
Carbonates: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Birdsley, Celeton, Goldyke, Oceanet, Perlor, Roic and Somorent series.

Birdsley soils have more than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Goldyke and Roic soils lack appreciable amounts of soft, flat, shaly rock fragments. Celeton and Perlor soils are not moist for 10 to 20 days in the summer. Celeton soils also have 60 to 80 percent soft diatomaceous earth fragments in C horizon. Oceanet soils have a mean annual soil temperature of less than 10 degrees C. and more than 50 percent sand. Perlor soils have more than 50 percent sand. Somorent soils have 0 to 15 percent gravel in the particle-sizecontrol section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Slatery soils are on hills and mountain slopes. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium derived from silt-stone and related sedimentary rocks. Slopes are 8 to 50 percent. Elevations are 1,302 to 2,015 meters. The climate is cool and arid. The mean annual precipitation is 130 to 200 mm, the mean annual temperature is 10 to 12 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 100 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Kyler, Thike and Weepah series. Kyler soils are carbonatic and are over limestone. Thike soils have an argillic horizon and are over hard granite. Weepah soils are skeletal and have an aridic moisture regime that borders xeric.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; medium or rapid runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly spiny menodora, shadscale, Anderson wolfberry, Nevada ephedra and Indian ricegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Nevada. These soils are of small extent. MLRA 29.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Esmeralda County, Nevada, 1984.

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 Bk horizon).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 25 cm (Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 25 cm (A1, A2 and Bk horizon).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.