LOCATION VENEZIA AZEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Venezia very stony and gravelly loam - grassland (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 2 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very stony loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and very fine roots; many fine vesicular and common fine interstitial and tubular pores; gravel content is 40 percent by volume; stones cover about 20 percent of surface; noneffervescent; neutral (pH 7.3); clear smooth boundary (1 to 4 inches thick)
C--2 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) heavy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) and dark brown (10YR 3/3) rubbed moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common fine and very fine roots; many very fine tubular and common fine interstitial pores; few pebbles and cobbles (less than 15 percent); noneffervescent; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt irregular boundary (4 to 10 inches thick)
R--10 to 12 inches; dark gray (7.5YR 4/1) extremely hard, dense, massive basalt bedrock, fractured in places and with tongues of C horizon extending into fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona. 1/2 mile north and 2/10 mile east of SW corner of sec. 12, T10N, R5W or about 3/4 mile east of center of Yarnell.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock: 5 to 16 inches but is dominantly 8 to 12 inches
Mean annual soil temperature: 54 degrees to 58 degrees F.
Soil moisture: Aridic ustic moisture regime
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline.
Stones and cobbles on the surface: 10 to 40 percent by volume.
A horizon
Hue: 10YR and 7.5YR
Value: 3 through 5 dry and 2 and 3 moist
Chroma: 2 and 3
Gravel content: 20 to 40 percent
Texture: gravelly loam and very stony loam
C horizon
Hue: 10YR and 7.5YR
Value: 3 through 5 dry and 2 and 3 moist
Chroma: 2 and 3
Texture: loam and light clay loam with less than 35 percent clay.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Purner and
Santana series. Purner soils are residual on limestone. Purner soils have 5YR and 2.5YR hues, are calcareous and have an Oca horizon. Santana soils have over 35 percent coarse
fragments in the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Venezia soils are on gently sloping to steep ridges and hills. Slopes range from 5 to 40 percent. These soils are formed on basalt bedrock and closely related materials. They are in a semiarid continental climate with an average annual precipitation of 12 to 18 inches and at an elevation of 4000 to 5500 feet. The mean annual temperature ranges from 52 degrees to 57 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the Apache and Cabezon series these include the Cross, Springerville and Thunderbird soils. Cross soils have fine-textured argillic and Cca horizons. Springerville soils are fine-textured, moderately deep and deep and crack widely and deeply on drying. Thunderbird soils are moderately deep and deep with a fine-textured argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained. Runoff is medium. Permeability of the soil is moderate to moderately slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used entirely for rangeland. Vegetation consists of oakbrush, deerbrush, squawbrush, a few juniper and mountain laurel with an understory of sideoats grama, June grass, blue grama, three-awns, squirreltail, bear grass, snakeweed and annuals. At the lower range in elevation there is less brush and the grasses are dominant.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Yavapai County and central Arizona. These soils are moderately extensive throughout the survey area and are important for rangeland use. MLRAs 38 & 35.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Western Yavapai County Area, Yavapai County, Arizona, 1971. Name is taken from Venezia, a small settlement between Prescott and Crown King in Yavapai County, Arizona.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 9 inches. (A horizons)
Lithic contact - The presence of limestone bedrock at 15 inches. (R layer)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
Reclassified to an Aridic Lithic subgroup in 2007.
The Venezia soils was formerly classified in the House Mountain series and as Lithosols.