LOCATION TEMBLOR CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Lithic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Temblor very shaly sandy loam-on a west facing convex slope of about 60 percent under foxtail fescue, red brome, fiddleneck at 4,000 feet elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on 5/19/75 the soil was moist throughout.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very shaly sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; many very fine interstitial and tubular pores; about 40 percent angular shale fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
A2--2 to 10 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very shaly light loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine interstitial and tubular pores; about 40 percent angular shale fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 10 inches thick)
R--10 inches; hard, fractured, very pale brown (10YR 7/3) shale. Fractures are 1 to 10 inches apart and vary from 1/4 inch to 1 inch in size. Some soil material fills the fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Kern County, California; about 1/2 mile SW of McKittrick Summit, west side of the north to south wire fence in the SE corner of the SE1/4, NE1/4, SW1/4 of section 30, T. 30 S., R. 21 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a lithic contact ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Mean annual soil temperature is 60 degrees F. The soil below a depth of about 8 inches and the lithic contact is usually moist in some parts from November until April or May 1, is moist in all parts at least 45 consecutive days and is dry the rest of the year. Organic matter is 1 to 2 percent and decreases regularly with depth. Fragments of shale occupy 35 to 50 percent of the soil profile. Base saturation is greater than 75 percent.
The A horizon has dry colors of 10YR 5/2, 5/3 or 4/3. Moist colors are 10YR 3/2 or 3/3. It is very shaly sandy loam, or very shaly loam. Clay content ranges from 15 to 25 percent. It has weak granular or moderate subangular blocky structure and is neutral to moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Hambright series and the Friant, Lodo, and Lopez series in other families. Hambright soils have a Bw horizon, are neutral to medium acid, and have weathered from basalt bedrock. Friant and Lodo have less than 35 percent rock fragments. Lopez soils have base saturation of 50 to 75 percent and have properties that suggest some amorphous materials occur in the soil or parent material.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Temblor soils are on uplands, hills and mountains. Slopes are 15 to 75 percent. The soils formed in material weathered from sandstone or diatomaceous shale. Elevations are 2,700 to 4,300 feet. The climate is semi-arid with warm to hot dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 9 to 12 inches. Mean January temperature is 44 degrees F.; mean July temperature is 81 degrees F.; mean annual temperature is 60 degrees to 62 degrees F. Frost-free season is 175 to 225 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Lodo soils and the Aramburu, Gazos, and Reward soils. Aramburu soils have a lithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. Gazos soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments. Reward soils are effervescent throughout and have less than 35 percent shale fragments.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, low or medium runoff, moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing, watershed, or a wildlife habitat, and recreation. Vegetation is annual grasses, forbs, mostly foxtail fescue, red brome and fiddleneck.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Temblor Range of the Eastern Coast Range of Southern California, MLRA 15. The soils are not extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kern County, Northwestern Part, California, 1982.