LOCATION TAMELY MTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Ashy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, glassy over mixed Andic Haplocryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Tamely gravelly ashy silt loam - forest cover. (Colors are of dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
0i--0 to 1 inch; needles, twigs, decomposing organic materials.
Bw1--1 to 6 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly ashy silt loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist, fine crumb structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky; many fine and common medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; 30 percent angular gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.5); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bw2--6 to 16 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly ashy silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; fine crumb structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky; many fine, common medium and few coarse roots; many fine interstitial pores; 30 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
2E--16 to 25 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/3) extremely gravelly loamy fine sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable; many fine, few medium and coarse roots; common fine tubular pores; 65 percent gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.1); clear wavy boundary. (6 to 16 inches thick)
2E and B1--25 to 46 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) extremely gravelly loamy sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; thin, discontinuous, wavy light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly loam lamellae; massive; slightly hard, very friable; common fine and medium roots; common fine tubular pores; 65 percent gravel; very strongly acid (pH 5.0); clear smooth boundary. (12 to 30 inches thick)
2E and B2--46 to 62 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) extremely gravelly loamy sand, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; wavy, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), very gravelly loam lamellae 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and 3 to 6 inches apart; massive; slightly hard, very friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic in lamellae; few roots; 70 percent gravel; very strongly acid (pH 4.9).
TYPE LOCATION: Mineral County, Montana; approximately 600 feet south and 1,300 feet west of NE corner sec. 3, T.15N., R.24W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Tamely soils have mean annual soil temperature ranging from 37 to 43 degrees F. and average summer soil temperature ranging from 45 to 49 degrees F. under varying densities of forest cover. Angular and subangular hard rock fragments increase with increasing depth from 15 to 30 percent in thin loess mantle to 50 to 80 percent of volume in underlying horizons. The soils range from slightly acid or moderately acid in their ash-rich mantle B horizons to very strongly acid in their 2E and B horizons. The ash-rich overlay ranges from 7 to 14 inches thick. It has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, dry value of 5 or 6 and chroma of 3 through 6. This horizon has bulk density of .65 to .85 grams/cc, base saturation of 20 to 50, and cation exchange capacity relative to clay ranges from 1 to 3. It has 5 to 10 percent clay and 40 to 70 percent silt plus very fine sand. The E horizon portions of the horizon have hue of 2.5Y or 10YR, value of 6 through 8, and chroma of 1 through 3. The lamellae have hue of 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 6 or 7 and chroma of 2 through 4. The buried horizons range from loamy fine sand to loamy sand. They have estimated bulk density of 1.5 to 2, estimated base saturation of 50 to 90 percent and cation exchange capacity of .5 to 1 gram/gram of clay. Lamellae range from 1/32 to 1/2 inch thick and comprise 1 to 10 percent of the soil. These have from 15 to 25 percent clay and 30 to 50 percent silt.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Tamely soils are on steep mountain slopes at elevations of 4,000 to 8,000 feet under coniferous forest. They formed in an ash-rich thin loess mantle superimposed over residuum and colluvium from argillite and quartzitic rock. Mean annual precipitation is estimated as 40 to 65 inches with deep winter snow cover. Mean annual temperature is estimated as ranging from 34 to 45 degrees F. Mean summer temperature is estimated as less than 50 degrees F. under forest canopy.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Tamely soils are associated with Drexel, Nemote, and Winkler soils at lower elevations. These soils lack the silty ash-rich surface horizons. The Craddock, Holloway, and Truefissure soils are associated with Tamely soils at higher elevations.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is for forest products, wildlife habitat, and watershed. Vegetation is mainly an overstory of Douglas-fir, western larch, lodgepole pine, Englemann spruce, and an understory of beargrass, kinnikinnick, huckleberry, and sedges.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Widely distributed and extensive in the Rocky Mountains of eastern Montana and eastern Idaho.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: St. Regis-Ninemile Area, Montana, 1970.
The 3/2008 description reflects a change in classification from Ashy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, glassy over mixed Andic Eutrocryepts to Ashy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, glassy over mixed Andic Haplocryepts due to revision of the cryepts great groups and subgroups. The competing series section was not updated and should be reviewed after all the cryepts have been re-classified.