LOCATION TERT                    NV

Established Series
Rev. CMH/EWB/WED/JBF
07/2016

TERT SERIES

The Tert series consists of very shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum derived from tertiary lacustrine sedimentary rocks. The Tert soils are on hills and pediment remnants. Slopes are 4 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 200 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Xeric Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Tert loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 10 cm; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, sticky and plastic; few very fine and fine roots; common very fine interstitial pores; 2 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 18 cm thick)

Cr1--10 to 18 cm; highly weathered and fractured bedrock; works up to a loam; many very fine and common medium roots along fractures; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 13 cm thick)

Cr2--18 to 41 cm; consolidated fractured lacustrine sediments; common medium roots in cracks.

TYPE LOCATION: Mineral County, Nevada; approximately 2 miles southwest of the ghost town of Simon, about 1,050 feet east and 500 feet south of the northwest corner of section 20, T. 8 N., R. 37 E.; USGS Stewart Spring 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees 32 minutes 35 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 53 minutes 31 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 38.5431667 latitude, -117.8919444 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall except for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; aridic soil moisture regime bordering on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to paralithic: 10 to 18 cm.
Effervescence: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 18 to 27 percent.
Rock fragments: 0 to 15 percent, mainly gravel.

A horizon - Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry and moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry and moist.
Other features: A surface crust of about 6 mm thick is on some pedons.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Coppereid, Foxcan, Grina, Holburn, Hundraw, Jacratz, Puett, Stu and Whilphang series.

Coppereid and Foxcan soils have 10 to 18 percent clay and 15 to 35 percent hard gravel in the control section. Grina, Puett, Stu and Whilphang soils have a paralithic contact deeper than 18 cm. Holborn and Jacratz soils have 15 to 35 percent rock fragments. Hundraw soils contain 8 to 18 percent clay and have soil temperature of 8 to 11 degrees C.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Tert soils are on hills and pediment remnants. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium derived from tertiary sedimentary rocks. Slopes are 4 to 50 percent. Elevations are 1,591 to 2,196 meters. The climate is cool, semiarid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 200 to 300 mm, mean annual temperature is 10 to 12 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 100 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Armespan and the competing Whilphang soils. Armespan soils are very deep and have a calcic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly Juniper, purple sage, Stansbury cliffrose, desert snowberry, black sagebrush, galleta, Indian ricegrass, Douglas rabbitbrush, squirreltail, Nevada dalea, littleleaf horsebrush, Nevada ephedra and buckwheat.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 29.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mineral County Area, Nevada, 1985.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 10 cm (A horizon).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 10 cm (Cr1 layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 10 cm (A horizon).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.