LOCATION SPECTER                 NV

Established Series
Rev. LNL/LCL/JBF
07/2016

SPECTER SERIES

The Specter consists of moderately deep to an indurated duripan, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in alluvium derived mainly from tuffs. Specter soils are on fan piedmonts. Slopes are 2 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 175 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haplodurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Specter very gravelly loam - rangeland. (Colors for dry conditions unless otherwise noted About 60 percent of the soil surface consists of a pavement of flat, angular tuff gravel that average about 3 cm in diameter.

A--0 to 5 cm; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine roots; many fine and medium vesicular pores; 35 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

Bk1--5 to 28 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; 30 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); abrupt smooth boundary. (13 to 25 cm thick)

Bk2--28 to 43 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; single grain; loose when dry and moist, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 60 percent gravel most of which are 1.3 cm in diameter; very slightly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (13 to 20 cm thick)

Bk3--43 to 76 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; single grain; loose when dry and moist, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 65 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; carbonates coat underside of gravel; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (25 to 38 cm thick)

Bqkm--76 to 130 cm; white (10YR 8/1) indurated silica-carbonate cemented duripan; massive; light gray (10YR 7/2) moist; extremely hard, extremely firm; few very fine roots matted in cracks; many micro interstitial pores in the lower part; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (38 to 64 cm thick)

2C--130 to 152 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft with a few 0.6 to 3 cm lenses of slightly hard material especially high in calcium carbonate, very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; no roots; common very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4);

TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, Nevada. About 1,300 feet north and 1,870 feet east of the southwest corner of Sec. 11, T. 2 S., R. 54 E., Mount Diablo base line and meridian; USGS Honest John Well 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 47 minutes 5 seconds N and longitude 115 degrees 52 minutes 26 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 37.7847222 latitude, -115.8738889 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry during most years, mainly during the late spring, summer, and fall months; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to the duripan: 60 to 90 cm.

Particle-size control section - clay content: 5 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 55 to 75 percent, dominantly gravel.

A horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry and 3 to 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline through strongly alkaline.
Effervescence: Noneffervescent through strongly effervescent.

Bk horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: Sandy loam, fine sandy loam or loam.
Modifiers: Very gravelly or extremely gravelly.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Effervescence: Noneffervescent through strongly effervescent.

Bqkm horizon
Value: 7 or 6 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 3.
Other features: The upper part of the duripan is laminated and does not dissolve in concentrated HCl. Few, if any, pores are present ln this part of the pan as compared to many micro pores in the lower part. Roots only penetrate the pan along fractures in the pan.

2C horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: Gravelly loamy sand or gravelly sand.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Gabbs series. Gabbs soils have a mean annual temperature of 8 to 10 degrees C.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Specter soils occur on alluvial fan pediments dissected by occasional intermittent drainage channels. They have developed in very gravelly loamy alluvium derived primarily from tuffs. Slopes are 2 to 15 percent. They are at elevations between 1,520 and 1,740 meters. The mean annual precipitation is 150 to 200 mm. The mean annual temperature about 11 to 14 degrees C and the frost-free period ranges between 130 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Specter soils occur in the same general area as the Leo and Nevoyer soils. Leo soils lack cementation and have sandy-skeletal particle-size control sections. Nevoyer are shallow soils developed in residuum from ignimbrites.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat excessively drained; medium runoff; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing. The dominant vegetation consists of shadscale, bud sagebrush, galleta, littleleaf horsebrush, Nevada ephedra, and some Indian ricegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Nevada where the soil is inextensive. MLRA 29.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County, Nevada, Penoyer Valley, 1965. Specter is the name of a mountain range in eastern Nye County, Nevada.

REMARKS: These soils were formerly classified as Calcisols.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A horizon and part of the Bk1 horizon).
Indurated Duripan - The zone from 76 to 130 cm (Bqkm horizon).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 25 to 76 cm (Bk2 and Bk3 and part of the Bk1 horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.