LOCATION VOORHIES OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Mollic Haploxeralfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Voorhies very gravelly loam, forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
0--1 inch to 0; undecomposed litter from needles and twigs.
A1--0 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very gravelly loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine and moderate very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and very fine and few medium roots; many interstitial pores; 55 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
A2--3 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak fine granular and weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and few medium roots; many interstitial and very fine tubular pores; 55 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.6); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
BA--8 to 12 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) very gravelly clay loam, light brown (7.5YR 6/3) dry; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and few medium roots; many very fine tubular pores; 40 percent gravel; thin bleached silt and sand grains on faces of peds; slightly acid (pH 6.4); gradual wavy boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
Bt1--12 to 18 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) very gravelly clay loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common fine and few medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; few thin clay films; 35 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bt2--18 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) very cobbly clay loam, pink (7.5YR 7/3) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; common thin and few moderately thick clay films; 35 percent gravel and 25 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.6). (7 to 15 inches thick)
Cr--36 inches; partially consolidated and weathered metamorphic bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Jackson County, Oregon; 6 miles southwest of Medford, approximately 1,680 feet west and 790 feet south of the northeast corner of sec. 35, T. 38 S., R. 2 W., Willamette Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually dry during the summer for 80 to 110 consecutive days in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is 47 to 56 degrees F. Thickness of the solum and depth to a paralithic contact is 20 to 40 inches.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 or 4 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist. It has 35 to 60 percent angular gravel. It has 2 to 4 percent organic matter.
The B horizon has hue of 10YR, 7.5YR or 5YR, value of 4 or 5 moist, 5 through 7 dry, and chroma of 3 through 6 moist and dry. It has 25 to 50 percent angular gravel and 10 to 25 percent angular cobbles and exceeds 35 percent in combination. It is clay loam or loam, and averages 25 to 35 percent clay and more than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand. Uncoated sand and silt layers are common in the upper part of the B horizon. It is slightly acid or neutral.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hecker and Melder series. Hecker and Melder soils are over 40 inches deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Voorhies soils are on mountainous slopes at elevations of 1,000 to 4,000 feet. Slopes range from 35 to 55 percent. The soils formed in colluvium weathered from altered sedimentary and extrusive igneous rocks. The climate is characterized by warm dry summers and cool moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 20 to 40 inches. The mean annual temperature is 46 to 54 degrees F. The frost-free period is 100 to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Caris, Offenbacher, Manita, McMullin, Ruch, and Vannoy soils. Caris and Offenbacher soils lack an argillic horizon. Offenbacher, Manita, Ruch, and Vannoy soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section. McMullin soils are less than 20 inches deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Timber production, water supply and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation is Douglas fir, Pacific madrone, ponderosa pine, California black oak, poison oak, creambush oceanspray, common snowberry, California fescue and Idaho fescue.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwestern Oregon. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Josephine County, Oregon, 1979.
REMARKS: The activity class was added to the classification in March of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET