LOCATION SOAR                    NV

Established Series
Rev. MJZ/GJS/JVC/JBF
05/2016

SOAR SERIES

The Soar series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from granitic rocks. Soar soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes are 4 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 230 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 10 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Xeric Haplargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Soar gravelly coarse sandy loam--rangeland (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 40 percent fine gravel, 15 percent cobbles, and 8 percent stones.

A1--0 to 3 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly coarse sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak twin platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; 30 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

A2--3 to 8 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly coarse sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak thin platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; many fine tubular and interstitial pores; 20 percent gravel; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)

Bt--8 to 15 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds, lining pores, and bridging sand grains; 50 percent gravel; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 23 cm thick)

Cr--15 to 71 cm; fractured, weathered granite; common very fine and fine roots in fractures that decrease in number with depth; gradual smooth boundary. (20 to 66 cm thick)

R--71 cm; unweathered granite.

TYPE LOCATION: Pershing County, Nevada; about 11 miles west of Oreana in the Trinity Range; 5OO feet east and 1,400 feet south of the northwest corner of section 4, T. 28 N., R. 31 E.; USGS Poker Brown Spring 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees 19 minutes 23 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 30 minutes 39 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 40.3230556 latitude, -118.510833 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist winter and spring, dry June through October; aridic soil moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature: 10 to 12 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock: 15 to 36 cm to a paralithic contact of weathered granitic rock. Hard, unweathered bedrock is within 100 cm.
Reaction: Neutral or slightly alkaline.
Other features: The upper 18 cm when mixed, have a value of more than 5.5 dry and 3.5 moist.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 14 to 22 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent, mainly fine gravel. Lithology of fragments are granitic rocks such as granite or granodiorite.

A horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.

Bt horizon
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Very gravelly sandy clay loam or very gravelly loam.
Clay content: 20 to 26 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 60 percent, mainly fine (2 to 5 mm) gravel.
Structure: Subangular blocky or prismatic.
Consistence: Slightly sticky or moderately sticky and slightly plastic or moderately plastic, wet.
Other features: Some pedons have thin horizons of sandy clay above the paralithic contact.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Abalan, Alcan, Armoine, Berit, Bouncer, Entero, Flex, Ginex, Harvan, Penelas, Ravenell, Sedsked, Stodick, and Zyzzi series.

Abalan soils have Btk horizons at 8 to 20 cm and contain 18 to 30 percent clay. Alcan, Flex, and Ginex soils do not have hard bedrock within 100 cm. Armoine and Stodick soils have a paralithic contact at 36 to cm. Berit, Entero, Ravenell and Stodick soils average more than 25 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Bouncer and Harvan soils are more moist for 10 to 20 days between July and September due to convection storms. Penelas soils have more than 60 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Sedsked and Zyzzi soils have more than 50 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Soar soils are on hills and mountains. They formed in residuum and colluvium derived from granitic rocks. Slopes are 4 to 50 percent. Elevations range from 1,405 to 1,985 meters. The climate is semiarid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 200 to 250 mm, the mean annual temperature is 9 to 11 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Arclay soil. Arclay soils are loamy, shallow to paralithic contacts of weathered granitic rock, and have mollic epipedons and argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained, medium to very high surface runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Soar soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly low sagebrush, desert needlegrass, Nevada ephedra, littleleaf horsebrush, and cheatgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 27.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pershing County, Nevada, West Part, 1988.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 8 cm (A1 and A2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 8 to 15 cm (Bt horizon).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 15 cm to underlying soft, weathered bedrock (Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 15 cm (A1, A2, and Bt horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.