LOCATION SPANEL                  NV

Established Series
Rev. DMC/ELS/JBF
03/2016

SPANEL SERIES

The Spanel series consists of shallow to an indurated duripan, well drained soils that formed alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Spanel soils are on fan piedmont remnants. Slopes are 0 to 4 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 7 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Typic Argidurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Spanel gravelly loamy sand - rangeland (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A1--0 to 5 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly loamy sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many very fine interstitial, and few very fine tubular pores; 20 percent gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

A2--5 to 15 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) fine sandy loam brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate very thick platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and slightly plastic; few very fine, fine, and medium roots; many very fine and fine, and common medium vesicular pores; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 15 cm thick)

Bt--15 to 25 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium and thin platy structure; hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 cm thick)

Btk--25 to 36 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films in pores; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 25 cm thick)

Bqkm--36 to 58 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) indurated duripan, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; extremely hard, extremely firm; few very fine roots matted in fracture planes; few very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films in pores; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2); clear smooth boundary. (13 to 30 cm thick)

2Ck--58 to 152 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 40 percent gravel; many thin pale brown (10YR 6/3) silica and few thin very pale brown (10YR 8/2) carbonate coats on underside of gravel; noncalcareous matrix but violently effervescent on underside of gravel; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2)

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; about 2 miles west of the Peavine Ranch; about 0.45 mile west and 200 feet north of the SE corner of sec. 15, T. 8N., R. 42E.; USGS Seyler Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 32 minutes 42 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 14 minutes 56 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.5450000 latitude, -117.2488889 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and September and October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 9 to 13 degrees C.
Depth to the duripan: 25 to 50 cm.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 20 to 30 percent.
Rock fragments: 0 to 25 percent.

A horizon:
Value: 6 or 7 dry.
Chroma: 2 or 3.

Bt and Btk horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: Loam, sandy clay loam or clay loam.
Rock fragments: 0 to 25 percent.
Structure: Weak medium or coarse prismatic.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cleaver, Corder, Laped, Shoofly, Silent and Tumtum series.

Cleaver, Corder, Laped, Shoofly and Tumtum soils are not moist for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and September and October due to convection storms. Silent soils are calcareous throughout.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Spanel soils are on fan piedmonts at elevations of 1,680 to 1,830 meters. The soils formed in alluvium derived from many rock sources including basaltic, rhyolitic, latitic, and tuffaceous rocks. The climate is warm arid with mean annual precipitation of 125 to 150 mm. The mean annual temperature is 6 to 8 degrees C. The average frost-free season is 100 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dobel, Lyda, and Orphant soils. Dobel and Orphant soils have strongly cemented duripans. Lyda soils have loamy-skeletal particle-size control sections.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; very slow permeability; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is principally shadscale, bud sagebrush, and Bailey greasewood with some galleta and Indian ricegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Nevada. These soils are inextensive. MLRA 29.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (818 Smoky Valley Area), Nevada, 1972.

REMARKS: Spanel soils were classified as Desert soils.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 15 cm (A1 and A2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 15 to 36 cm (Bt and Btk horizons).
Indurated Duripan - The zone from 36 to 58 cm (Bqkm horizon).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 15 to 36 cm ((Bt and Btk horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.