LOCATION SALINAS CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Pachic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Salinas clay loam, cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described, the soil was dry to 5 inches and moist below 5 inches.)
Ap1--0 to 5 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) clay loam, black (10YR 2/1 rubbed) moist; weak coarse subangular ; very hard, firm, very sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine interstitial, few medium and fine tubular pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
Ap2--5 to 13 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1 moist or dry) clay loam; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine interstitial, few medium and fine tubular pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 9 inches thick)
A13--13 to 23 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1 moist or dry) clay loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine interstitial and common very fine and few fine tubular pores; some dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2 moist) lumps and mottles, probably due to rodent activity, increasing with depth; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual wavy boundary. (10 to 12 inches thick)
A14--23 to 33 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine interstitial and common very fine and few fine tubular pores; this horizon and all following horizons have about 10 to 14 percent rodent activity with filling of darker A material; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); diffuse smooth boundary. (8 to 10 inches thick)
C1--33 to 40 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) very fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine interstitial, few medium and fine and common very fine tubular pores; about 5 percent root channels filled with darker A material; slightly effervescent, disseminated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
C2--40 to 49 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) very fine sandy loam, olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine interstitial, few very fine and fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent, disseminated lime, few fine bodies strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual smooth boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
C3--49 to 75 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) very fine sandy loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) moist; massive; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine interstitial pores; strongly effervescent with disseminated lime; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Monterey County, California; 1.3 miles south of Chualar underpass on Highway 101; 1,100 feet SW on paved road, 600 feet SE on Farm Road, about 50 feet NE into field.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 60 degrees to 64 degrees F. and the soil temperature usually is not below 47 degrees F. at any time. The soil between depths of about 5 to 15 inches usually is dry all of the time from about May until late November or early December and usually is moist all the rest of the year. Depth to lime is about 22 to 36 inches. Most of the lime is disseminated, with a few fine to medium lime masses in the lower part. Some pedons have Cca horizons. The soils are neutral to moderately alkaline to a depth of about 22 inches and moderately alkaline below. The 10 to 40 inch control section averages loam, silt loam, clay loam or silty clay loam. It contains 18 to 30 percent clay and more than 15 percent fine sand or coarser.
The A horizon is very dark gray, dark gray or gray (10YR 3/1, 4/1, 5/1) with a chroma of less than 2 to a depth of 22 inches or more. In some pedons, lower A horizons grade to C horizons and are grayish brown (10YR and 2.5Y 5/2). Organic matter content is 1 to 4 percent to a depth of more than 20 inches and decreases regularly to less than 1 percent within 30 inches of the surface.
The C horizon is grayish brown, light brownish gray, pale brown, light yellowish brown or yellowish brown (10YR and 2.5Y 5/2, 6/2, 6/4). It is very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, clay loam or silty clay loam, and usually is weakly stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Agueda, Anaheim, Conejo and Gazos series in the same family and the Linne, Mocho, Pacheco, San Benito, Sorrento and Vina series. Agueda soils are calcareous in all parts and have soft masses of segregated lime within a depth of 40 inches. Anaheim, Linne and Gazos soils have a paralithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Conejo and Vina soils have a chroma of 2 or 3 in the A horizon and are noncalcareous in the lower part. Mocho and Sorrento soils have mollic epipedons less than 20 inches thick with chroma of 2 or 3. Pacheco soils are seasonally saturated with water within 30 inches of the surface. San Benito soils have a chroma of 2 or more and have a paralithic contact at depths of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Salinas soils are on alluvial plains, fans, and terraces not subject to current accretions. Slopes are 0 to 9 percent. The soils formed in mixed alluvium mostly from sandstone and shale. They are at elevations of 50 to 2,000 feet. The climate is dry subhumid mesothermal with cool to warm rainless summers with some fog and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 12 to 20 inches. The average January temperature is 46 degrees to 50 degrees F.; average July temperature is 62 degrees to 73 degrees F.; mean annual temperature is 57 degrees to 60 degrees F. The average frost-free season is 233 to 300 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Agueda soils and the Clear Lake, Docas and Metz soils. Clear Lake soils are clay soils with slickensides. Docas soils lack a mollic epipedon and are calcareous throughout. Metz soils are stratified and the control section is sandy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to medium runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for growing irrigated truck, field, and forage crops. Some small valleys used for dry farmed small grain. Noncultivated areas have annual grass and forbs with scattered oak and sycamore in places.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Salinas soils are extensive in the valleys of the central and south-central Coast Range of California.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Monterey County (Lower Salinas Valley), California, 1901.
REMARKS: This is a change in classification from Calcic Pachic Haploxerolls to Pachic Haploxerolls. This site is usually compacted and occurs in a cultivated field subject to long and heavy traffic.
The activity class was added to the classification in February of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET
ADDITIONAL DATA: Riverside Laboratory pedon No. S65-Calif-27-11. SSIR No. 24.