LOCATION TRAVER CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Natric Haploxeralfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Traver fine sandy loam - annual grass pasture. (Colors for dry conditions unless otherwise noted)
A11--0 to 1 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; massive; hard, friable, slightly plastic and nonsticky; numerous fine vesicular pores; contains much sharp fine siliceous sand and small plates and fragments of mica; moderately alkaline (pH 8.3), slightly calcareous; abrupt smooth boundary. (1/2 to 2 inches thick)
A12--1 to 18 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; essentially massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; numerous fine roots and fine pores; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5), slightly calcareous; abrupt smooth boundary. (11 to 23 inches thick).
B2t--18 to 38 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) fine sandy loam containing slightly more clay than horizons above, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable to firm, slightly plastic and slightly sticky; thin patchy clay films; few fine roots; numerous very fine pores; strongly alkaline (pH 9.0), slightly to moderately calcareous with the lime occurring in small soft lighter colored segregations and nodules; gradual smooth boundary. (14 to 30 inches thick)
CC--38 inches +; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) fine sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) with a few fine distinct mottles of brown (10YR 4/3) and a yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) moist; massive; hard, friable, slightly plastic and slightly sticky; few fine roots; numerous very fine pores; somewhat stratified with coarser and finer material; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5), less calcareous than layer above; several feet thick.
TYPE LOCATION: Merced County, California; NW 1/4 Sec. 33, T.8S, R.13E., east of road at north end of bridge over Deadmans Creek.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils have ochric epipedons, argillic horizons with exchangeable sodium of more than 15 percent. The soils are usually moist but dry for 60 consecutive days in the summer in most years. The mean annual soil temperature is 59 degrees to 72 degrees F. Mineralogy is mixed. The solum is 25 to 55 inches thick. The soils may be underlain by unrelated silty substratum at depths of 36 to 60 inches. The soils are variable in content of salts and alkali but usually contain moderate to strong amounts. The soils are calcareous throughout and the lime is disseminated except in the Bt where it may be also segregated and in nodules.
The A horizons range in color from gray, light brownish gray to very pale brown in 10YR and 2.5Y hues with values of 5 to 7 and chromas of 1 to 3. Structure is massive and consistence is slightly hard to hard; in texture from loamy fine sand to loam; in reaction from slightly to strongly alkaline and calcareous with increasing pH with depth.
The Bt horizons range in color from grayish brown, yellowish brown, light brownish gray to very pale brown in 10YR and 2.5Y hues with values of 5 to 7 and chromas of 2 to 4; in texture from fine sandy loam to loam and silt loam (<18 percent clay); in reaction from strongly to very strongly alkaline and slightly to moderately calcareous; in structure from weak to medium blocky; in consistence from hard to very hard.
The C horizons are similar to the Bt horizons but of lighter texture but may be stratified with fine sandy loam to silty clay loam textures.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other soils in the same family. Similar soils in another group are Waukena and Solano soils which have fine-loamy natric horizons. Similar soils in other orders are Hacienda and Pond which have fine-loamy argillic horizons; Fresno soils which have duripans.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Traver soils occur on nearly level to depressional slightly hummocky areas on alluvial fans and flood plains composed of alluvium from granitic bedrock. They occur at elevations of less than 1,700 feet, in a semiarid mesothermal climate with mean annual rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual temperature is about 63 degrees F., average January temperature about 45 degrees F., and average July temperature about 80 degrees F. Frost-free season averages about 220 to 260 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include Chino, Dello, Grangeville, Foster, Hanford, Fresno and Waukena soils. All of these soils occur on fans and terraces composed of alluvium from granitic bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well to somewhat poorly drained, with moderate to slow permeability and slow runoff.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for early spring pasture. Where reclaimed they are used for general field crops such as cotton, sugar beets, and alfalfa as well as irrigated pasture. Vegetation is salt-grass and salt-tolerant weeds; occasional spots are nearly bare of vegetation.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central San Joaquin Valley and intermountain valleys in southern California. The soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Visalia area, Tulare County, California, 1935. (Source of name is town of Traver, north of Tulare)
REMARKS: The soils were formerly classified in (minimal) Solentz group. Traver clay loam as mapped in the Bakersfield area, California would now be included in the Lewis series. In places, Traver soils, as mapped, include some areas of Waukena soils.
The activity class was added to the classification in January of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 7/67.