LOCATION STORMJADE               CA

Established Series
REV: LJL/CAH/PBF/ET
12/2015

STORMJADE SERIES

The Stormjade series consists of very shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium dominantly from granitoid. The Stormjade soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes range from 8 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 100 millimeters (about 4 inches) and the mean annual air temperature is about 25 degrees C (77 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, hyperthermic, shallow Typic Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Stormjade very gravelly sandy loam, on a south-facing, 25 percent slope under desert shrubs at an elevation of 431 meters (about 1400 feet). (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is covered by approximately 20 percent fine gravel and 60 percent medium and coarse gravel.

A--0 to 4 centimeters (0 to 1.5 inches); light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4), moist; moderate thick platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine roots; many very fine and common fine tubular pores; strongly effervescent; 15 percent fine gravel and 20 percent medium and coarse gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 centimeters thick)

Bk--4 to 14 centimeters (1.5 to 6 inches); light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4), moist; moderate fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and few medium roots; many very fine and common fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; 10 percent fine gravel and 35 percent medium and coarse gravel; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 21 centimeters thick)

Cr--14 to 30 centimeters (6 to 12 inches); fractured bedrock with cracks 2 to 8 millimeters apart; common very fine and fine roots in fractures; very abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 25 centimeters thick)

R--30 centimeters (12 inches); hard granitoid bedrock with fractures greater than 10 centimeters apart; few very fine and fine roots in fractures.

TYPE LOCATION: San Bernardino County, California; approximately 5 kilometers northeast of Pyramid Butte in the BLM's Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area; in an unsectionalized area, 300 meters south and 300 meters east of the northwest corner of section 16, T. 3 N., R 23 E., San Bernardino Base and Meridian; USGS Savahia Peak, CA 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 34 degrees, 20 minutes, 14.5 seconds north latitude and 114 degrees, 34 minutes, 31.1 seconds west longitude; UTM 11S 723050e 3802228n (DATUM: NAD83).

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture control section: usually dry throughout, rarely moist in some part during summer or winter. The soils have a typic-aridic soil moisture regime.

Soil temperature: 25 to 28 degrees C (about 77 to 82 degrees F).

Surface rock fragments: 40 to 80 percent gravel and 0 to 5 percent cobbles.

Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent.

Depth to paralithic contact: 3 to 25 centimeters.
Depth to lithic contact: 12 to 36 centimeters.

A horizon
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, moist or dry.
Clay content: 8 to 15 percent.
Structure: weak or moderate, platy or subangular blocky.
Consistence: soft or slightly hard, nonsticky or slightly sticky, and nonplastic or slightly plastic.
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent, dominantly gravel.
Effervescence: very slightly effervescent through strongly effervescent.
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.

Bk or Bt horizons (when present)
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3, 4, or 6, dry or moist.
Clay content: 8 to 15 percent.
Structure: weak or moderate.
Consistence: soft or slightly hard.
Rock fragments: 40 to 70 percent, dominantly gravel.
Effervescence: slightly effervescent through violently effervescent.
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
Other features: Some pedons have secondary calcium carbonate or clay films which are not diagnostic.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Jadestorm (CA), Ramshead (NV) and Schenco (AZ) series. Jadestorm, Ramshead and Schenco soils are all moist in the moisture control section for 10 to 20 days cumulative following summer convection storms. Jadestorm soils also have a soil temperature of 22 to 25 degrees C. Ramshead soils are from sedimentary rocks and have flagstones and channers in the soil profile. Schenco soils are dominated by channers, formed in slope alluvium and have schist lithology.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Stormjade soils are on hills and mountains. Slopes range from 8 to 75 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium dominantly from granitoid. Elevations range from 165 to 550 meters (about 540 to 1,800 feet). The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm, dry winters. The mean annual precipitation is 75 to 125 millimeters (about 3 to 5 inches); mean annual air temperature is 23 to 27 degrees C (about 73 to 81 degrees F), and the frost-free season is 360 to 365 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Goldroad and Whipple (T CA) soils. Goldroad and Whipple soils are on similar landscape positions. Goldroad soils have a lithic contact. Whipple soils have an argillic horizon above a lithic contact.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Somewhat excessively drained; very high runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity in the solum and in the upper part of the bedrock.

USE AND VEGETATION: Stormjade soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly brittlebush, teddybear cholla, creosotebush, blue palo verde and burrobush.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Colorado Desert of southeastern California. MLRA 31. These soils are of small extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: San Bernardino County, California; Chemehuevi Wash Off-Highway Vehicle Area, part of the Colorado Desert Soil Survey Area, 2005. The name is from a historic mine in an adjacent soil survey area.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon include:

Ochric epipedon: from a depth of 0 to 14 centimeters (0 to 6 inches) (A and Bk horizons)
Particle-size control section: from a depth of 0 to 14 centimeters (0 to 6 inches) (A and Bk horizons)
Paralithic contact: the zone beginning at 14 centimeters (6 inches) (Cr horizon)
Lithic contact: the zone beginning at 30 centimeters (12 inches) (R horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA: NASIS User Pedon ID: 6799-18-2LL.

Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 12/2015. The last revision to the series was 10/2012. ET

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.