LOCATION TATOOSH                 WA

Established Series
IRD. TMR/MPR
07/2017

TATOOSH SERIES

Landscape--Cascade Mountains
Landform--mountain slopes, glacial valley walls, cirques, ridges
Slope--10 to 100 percent
Parent material--volcanic ash and colluvium over andesite
Mean annual precipitation--about 2500 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about 3 degrees C
Depth class--shallow
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--udic
Soil temperature regime--cryic
Soil moisture subclass-typic

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Medial, glassy Lithic Vitricryands

TYPICAL PEDON: Tatoosh paragravelly medial sandy loam in a meadow on a south-facing valley wall with a slope of 65 percent and at an elevation of 1875 m (When described on October 27, 2011, the soil was frozen at the surface and moist throughout.)

Oi--0 to 1 cm; slightly decomposed plant material from grasses and forbs; many fine interstitial pores; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); abrupt wavy boundary

A1--1 to 6 cm; paragravelly medial sandy loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) dry, black (10YR 2/1) moist; moderate medium granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent pumice paragravel; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt wavy boundary

A2--6 to 22 cm; paragravelly medial sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) dry, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine, common medium, and few coarse roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent pumice paragravel and 10 percent andesite gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary

Bw--22 to 46 cm; paragravelly medial sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) dry, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine and few medium and coarse roots; common very fine and fine irregular pores; 20 percent pumice paragravel and 10 percent andesite gravel; strongly acid (pH 5.4); abrupt irregular boundary

2R--46 cm; fractured andesite

TYPE LOCATION: Pierce County, Washington, on a ridge north of the White River, in the Yakima Park area, about 1.5 km southeast of the Sunrise Ranger Station in Mount Rainier National Park; about 415 m north and 255 m west of the southeast corner of section 35, T. 17 N., R. 9 E., Willamette Meridian; White River Park, Washington, U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle; latitude 46.911458 degrees north, longitude -121.624047 degrees west, datum WGS 84 (coordinates determined with a GPS)

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--2 to 7 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--dry less than 45 consecutive days in June through October
Depth to lithic contact--25 to 50 cm
Thickness of umbric epipedon--10 to 50 cm

All mineral horizons
*Reaction--4.5 to 5.5
*Volcanic glass content--50 to 75 percent
*Ammonium oxalate Al plus 1/2 Fe--greater than 1.0 percent

Particle-size control section
*Clay content--1 to 10 percent
*Pararock and rock fragment content--5 to 35 percent total, with pumice paragravel typically throughout the profile and andesite gravel or cobbles in lower part of profile in some areas

Some pedons near the center of meadows and away from areas with a tree canopy do not have an O horizon.

O horizon
*In lieu of texture--slightly decomposed plant material, moderately decomposed plant material
*Combined thickness--0 to 5 cm

A1 horizon
*Hue--10YR, 7.5YR
*Value--2 to 3 moist, 3 to 5 dry
*Chroma--1 or 2 moist or dry
*Fine-earth texture--medial sandy loam, medial coarse sandy loam
*Rock fragment content--10 to 30 percent pumice paragravel
*Thickness--5 to 15 cm

A2 horizon
*Hue--10YR, 7.5YR
*Value--2 to 3 moist, 3 to 5 dry
*Chroma--1 or 2 moist or dry
*Fine-earth texture--medial sandy loam, medial coarse sandy loam, medial loam
*Pararock and rock fragment content--15 to 35 percent total, including 10 to 30 percent pumice paragravel and 0 to 15 percent andesite gravel
*Thickness--10 to 25 cm

Bw horizon
*Hue--10YR, 7.5YR
*Value--3 or 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry
*Chroma--2 to 6 moist or dry
*Fine-earth texture--medial sandy loam, medial loamy sand, medial coarse sandy loam
*Pararock and rock fragment content--15 to 35 percent total, including 10 to 30 percent pumice paragravel, 0 to 15 percent andesite gravel, and 0 to 5 percent andesite cobbles
*Thickness--10 to 25 cm

COMPETING SERIES: None

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation--1110 to 2265 m
Climate--cool, dry summers; cold, wet winters
Mean annual precipitation--1550 to 3430 mm
Mean annual air temperature--1 to 6 degrees C
Frost-free period--30 to 60 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Burroughs--lithic contact within 50 to 100 cm (moderately deep); in similar landform positions
Littletahoma--no lithic contact within 150 cm (very deep); in similar landform positions
Mountwow--aquic conditions with an upper limit of 25 cm from the mineral soil surface; in concave areas of similar landforms that receive water from adjacent slopes
Ipsut, Owyhigh, Tipsoo--ochric epipedon; albic and spodic horizons; on similar forested landforms

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--well drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--high or very high throughout

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation
Potential natural vegetation--subalpine and alpine meadows composed of Columbia brome, alpine aster, leafy aster, arctic lupine, Sitka valerian, common yarrow, smooth woodrush, phlox, kinnikinnick, pachistima, and scattered subalpine fir, whitebark pine, and common juniper

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Cascade Mountains, Washington; MLRA 3; moderate extent

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mount Rainier National Park, Pierce County, Washington; 2014; name from Tatoosh Range in Mount Rainier National Park

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and other features in this pedon
*Particle-size control section--zone from 1 to 46 cm
*Umbric epipedon--zone from 1 to 22 cm
*Cambic horizon--zone from 22 to 46 cm
*Andic soil properties--zone from 1 to 46 cm
*Volcanic glass--zone from 1 to 46 cm
*Depth to lithic contact--46 cm
*Distinguishable tephra layers--mount Rainier X and Mount St. Helens Wn tephra (A1 horizon), Mount Rainier C tephra (A2 horizon), Mount St. Helens Yn tephra (Bw horizon)

3/2017--This official series description was updated according to SSR1 Technical Note 11--Content and Format of Official Series Descriptions (revised 12/2015). Most of the changes were in formatting; no major technical changes were made.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.