LOCATION UPPERLINE NV

Established Series
Rev: LJL/TM/ET
12/2015

UPPERLINE SERIES

The Upperline series consists of moderately deep to soft bedrock, well drained soils that formed in alluvium and colluvium from limestone and sandstone over residuum from sandstone and siltstone. Upperline soils are on convex rock pediments. Slope ranges from 2 to 50 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 6 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 66 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Typic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Upperline very gravelly sandy loam, rangeland and wildlife habitat. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered by approximately 80 percent gravel and 1 percent cobbles.

A--0 to 2 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak very thick platy structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine roots; common very fine interstitial pores and few fine and medium tubular pores; electrical conductivity 0.2 dS/m; 40 percent gravel; violently effervescent (18 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)

Bk1--2 to 12 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine, few medium and coarse roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; electrical conductivity 0.2 dS/m; many thin calcium carbonate coats on bottom of rock fragments; 50 percent gravel; violently effervescent (20 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary.

Bk2--12 to 20 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; common very fine and few fine and medium tubular pores; electrical conductivity 0.2 dS/m; common (5 percent) fine and medium, irregular, slightly hard, calcium carbonate masses in the matrix; many distinct calcium carbonate coats on bottom of rock fragments; 65 percent gravel; violently effervescent (20 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary.

Bk3--20 to 35 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; massive; moderately hard, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; few very fine and fine tubular pores; electrical conductivity 0.4 dS/m; many (35 percent), fine though very coarse, irregular, moderately hard, calcium carbonate masses in the matrix; many distinct calcium carbonate coats on bottom of rock fragments; 40 percent gravel and 15 percent paragravel; violently effervescent (25 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bk horizons is 26 to 35 inches)

2Bk4--35 to 39 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very paragravelly sandy loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; electrical conductivity 1.2 dS/m; sodium adsorption ratio 2.5; 10 percent fine through coarse, irregular, hard, calcium carbonate masses in the matrix; 40 percent paragravel; violently effervescent (18 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt broken boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)

2Cr--39 to 49 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) weathered very weakly cemented calcareous sandstone and siltstone with thin calcium carbonate cap, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; very hard, firm, brittle.

TYPE LOCATION: Clark County, Nevada; about 7 miles east of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas; approximately 200 feet west of the powerline road on the west side of the Gale Hills; 600 feet north and 1,950 feet west of the southeast corner of section 19, T. 19 S., R. 64 E.; USGS Dry Lake SE, NV 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 36 degrees, 16 minutes, 39 seconds north latitude and 114 degrees, 52 minutes, 22 seconds west longitude; UTM 11s, 0691070e 4016837n; NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - usually dry, moist in some part for brief periods during winter and early spring and between July and October following convection storms; Typic-Aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 66 to 71 degrees F.
Depth to calcic horizon: 2 to 10 inches.
Depth to 2Bk horizon: 30 to 38 inches.
Depth to paralithic contact: 30 to 40 inches.
Organic matter: 0 to 0.5 percent.

Control section - Rock fragments: Averages 35 to 65 percent, mainly limestone and sandstone gravel with 0 to 5 percent cobbles and stones.
Clay content: 6 to 15 percent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth: 15 to 30 percent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the less than 20 millimeter fraction: 40 to 60 percent.

A horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry, 4 or 6 moist.
Calcium carbonate equivalent in the fine earth fraction: 5 to 20 percent.

Bk horizons - Hue: 7.5YR or 5YR.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 4 or 6 dry.
Texture: sandy loam, coarse sandy loam or fine sandy loam.
Structure: weak or moderate, medium or coarse.
Consistence: nonsticky or slightly sticky, and nonplastic or slightly plastic.
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent, mainly gravel with 0 to 5 percent cobbles and stones.
Other features: 5 to 50 percent secondary lime deposits as calcium carbonate masses in the soil matrix or calcium carbonate films on bottoms of rock fragments.

2Bk horizon - Value: 4 or 5 moist.
Consistence: nonplastic or slightly plastic.
Rock fragments: 25 to 50 percent paragravel, with 0 to 15 percent gravel and 0 to 5 percent cobbles or stones.

2Cr horizon - Cementation: Extremely weakly cemented to moderately cemented soft bedrock.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Commski and Weiser series. Commski and Weiser soils do not have a paralithic contact at 30 to 40 inches.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Upperline soils are on convex rock pediments. Slope ranges from 2 to 50 percent. These soils formed alluvium and colluvium from limestone and sandstone over residuum from sandstone and siltstone. Elevations are 1,800 to 3,400 feet. The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and warm winters. The mean annual precipitation is 5 to 7 inches; mean annual air temperature is 64 to 69 degrees F., and the frost-free season is 240 to 300 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Helkitchen, Wechech, Whitebasin and the competing Weiser soils. Helkitchen soils are 7 to 14 inches deep to bedrock on limestone mountains. Wechech soils are 8 to 14 inches deep to a petrocalcic horizon. Whitebasin soils have a gypsic horizon and gypsic mineralogy.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low through high runoff; moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly white bursage, creosotebush, Fremont's chaffbush and range ratany.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mojave Desert of southern Nevada; MLRA 30. These soils are of moderately extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Clark County Area, Nevada, 2006. Proposed in Clark County Area, Nevada, 2000. The name is coined.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the profile are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 2 inches (A horizon).
Calcic horizon - 2 to 39 inches (Bk1, Bk2, Bk3 and 2Bk horizons).
Paralithic contact - 39 inches (top of the 2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - 10 to 39 inches (Part of the Bk1, Bk2, Bk3 and 2Bk horizons).

Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 12/2015. The last revision to the series was 7/2006. ET

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.