LOCATION VIUM                    NV

Established Series
Rev. TEB/MJZ/JVC/JBF
05/2016

VIUM SERIES

The Vium series consists of very shallow and shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from granitic rocks. Vium soils are on pediments and hills. Slopes are 2 to 75 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 125 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haplargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Vium gravelly coarse sandy loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered with 25 percent gravel.

A--0 to 8 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly coarse sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many very fine and fine tubular and common medium vesicular pores; 25 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

Btk--8 to 20 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and common medium roots; common very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds, lining pores, and bridging sand grains; 45 percent gravel; few fine carbonate filaments; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (20 to 25 cm thick)

R--20 cm; granite bedrock; weathered in the upper 10 to 13 cm with common very fine roots, few thin carbonate coats and few horizontal carbonate seams in fractures; becomes harder at 33 cm.

TYPE LOCATION: Pershing County, Nevada; about 5 miles southwest of Toulon near Ragged Top Mountain; 2,000 feet west and 1,600 feet south of the northeast corner of section 29, T. 25 N., R. 29 E.; USGS Toulon Peak 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees 0 minutes 36.4 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 44 minutes 51.9 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 40.0101111 latitude, 40.0101111 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist for short periods in winter and spring, dry from May through November; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock; 20 to 36 cm to a lithic contact.
Other features: Up to 20 cm of the upper part of the bedrock is fractured or weathered in most pedons.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Average 8 to 16 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent, mainly fine gravel. Lithology of fragments is granitic rocks such as granite or granodiorite.

A horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.

Btk horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Texture: Very gravelly sandy loam or very gravelly coarse sandy loam.
Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 40 to 60 percent, mainly fine gravel.
Effervescence: Slightly effervescent or strongly effervescent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Downeyville, Etinarg, Hoot, Mirkwood, Theon, Tognoni, Valleycity, and Waucoba series.

Downeyville soils are intermittently moist for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October, have 18 to 27 percent clay in the argillic horizon, and do not have rock fragments of granite. Etinarg soils have 18 to 25 percent clay in the control section. Hoot soils contain 50 to 70 percent rock fragments throughout the profile and are noneffervescent in the A and Bt horizons. Mirkwood soils have 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle-size control section, are 36 cm or less to a lithic contact, and are intermittently moist for 10 to 20 days between July and September. Theon soils have 25 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Tognoni soils average 27 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section, have 35 to 45 percent clay in the lower part of the argillic horizon, and are intermittently moist for 10 to 20 days between July and September. Valleycity soils have 18 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Waucoba soils have 18 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section and are 36 to 50 cm to lithic contacts.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vium soils are on hills. They formed in residuum and colluvium derived from granitic rocks. Slopes are 2 to 75 percent. Elevations range from 1,190 to 1,830 meters. The climate is cool-arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 150 mm, the mean annual temperature is 10 to 13 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Slocave soil. Slocave soils are loamy-skeletal, are very shallow and shallow to paralithic contacts, and do not have diagnostic subsurface horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained, low or medium surface runoff; high saurated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Vium soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly Bailey greasewood, shadscale, bud sagebrush, spiny hopsage, Nevada ephedra, Indian ricegrass, and desert needlegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 27.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pershing County, Nevada, West Part, 1988.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 8 cm (A horizon).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 8 to 20 cm (Btk horizon).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 20 cm to underlying hard bedrock (R layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 20 cm (A and Btk horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.