LOCATION VYLACH                  NV

Established Series
Rev. RLM-LNL-JVC-JBF
05/2016

VYLACH SERIES

The Vylach series consists of very shallow and shallow to a duripan, well drained soils that formed in alluvium derived from volcanic rocks. Vylach soils are on pediments. Slopes are 2 to 8 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Argidic Argidurids

TYPICAL PEDON: Vylach gravelly sandy loam--rangeland (Colors for dry soil unless otherwise noted).

E--0 to 5 cm; light gray (10YR 7/1) gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine vesicular pores; 30 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)

A--5 to 13 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few fine and very fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; 10 percent gravel; neutral(pH 7.2); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

Bt--13 to 30 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few medium and fine, and common very fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 5 percent gravel; neutral(pH 7.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 18 cm thick)

Bqm--30 to 43 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) duripan, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; very hard, very firm; strongly cemented by secondary silica; few medium through very fine roots in fractures; 60 percent fine gravel cemented within matrix of stratified sandy material; moderately alkaline(pH 8);abrupt wavy boundary. (13 to 25 cm thick)

Bqkm--43 to 69 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) duripan, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; massive; very hard, very firm; weakly to strongly cemented by secondary silica; few discontinuous laminae of opaline silica; few very fine roots in fractures; 50 to 70 percent fine gravel cemented within matrix of stratified sandy material; secondary carbonates segregated in few fine filaments; noneffervescent matrix and slightly effervescent filaments; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8) abrupt wavy boundary. (15 to 25 cm thick)

2Cr--69 cm; interbedded soft sandstone and siltstone.

TYPE LOCATION: Lyon County, Nevada; about 2 miles northeast of Stagecoach and 0.75 mile north of U.S. Highway 50; about 2,000 feet west and 650 feet south of the northeast corner of section 31, T. 18 N., R. 24 E.; USGS Stockton Well 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 23 minutes 17 seconds N and longitude 119 degrees 19 minutes 54 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.3880556 latitude, -119.3313889 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry; intermittently moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; typic aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 11 to 12 degrees C.

Abrupt textural change: A clear or abrupt horizon boundary is normally present between the A horizon and the Bt horizon accompanied by an increase in clay content of more than 15 percent.
Depth to duripan: 23 to 43 cm.
Depth to bedrock: 50 to 76 cm to a paralithic contact. The paralithic materials below the contact are sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone, or diatomite.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 12 to 22 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages 5 to 15 percent gravel. Lithology of fragments are volcanic rocks such as andesite and basalt.

E horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 1 or 2, dry or moist.
Clay content: 2 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 30 percent gravel.
Structure: Weak or moderate, thin to thick platy.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.

A horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Sandy loam or gravelly sandy loam.
Clay content: 2 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 10 to 20 percent gravel.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.

Bt horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Sandy clay loam or clay loam.
Clay content: 20 to 35 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 15 percent gravel.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.

Bqm and Bqkm horizons
Consistence: Very hard or extremely hard dry, very firm or extremely firm moist.
Cementation: Weakly cemented to strongly cemented.
Secondary silica: Occurs as finely disseminated cement within the matrix; also occurs in some horizons as few to common laminae of opaline silica 1 to 5 millimeters in thickness and 0.5 to 15 cm. in length.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belted, Deppy, Dobel and Orphant series. None of these soils have paralithic contacts of soft bedrock within 150 cm of the soil surface.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vylach soils are on pediments. They typically occur on summit positions. These soils formed in alluvium derived from volcanic rocks. Slopes are 2 to 8 percent. Elevations range from 1,310 to 1,610 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 200 mm, mean annual temperature is 10 to 11 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 100 to 130 days.

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

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; very high surface runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity in the subsoil over moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity in the duripan.

USE AND VEGETATION: Vylach soils are used for livestock grazing and urban development. The vegetation in rangeland is mainly Bailey's greasewood, shadscale, bud sagebrush, and Indian ricegrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 8,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 27.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lyon County, Nevada, 1981.

REMARKS: The revision of 06/2000 moved the series type location from Washoe County, Nevada to a more representative area in Lyon County, Nevada. The Vylach soils as mapped in the Surprise Valley-Home Camp Area, California-Nevada are ashy and glassy and will be correlated to another series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 13 cm (E and A horizons).
Albic horizon - The zone from the soil surface to 5 cm (E horizon).
Abrupt textural change - The abrupt clay increase of more than 15 percent at 13 cm (between the A and Bt horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 13 to 30 cm (Bt horizon).
Duripan - The zone from 30 to 69 cm (Bqm and Bqkm horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 69 cm to underlying soft bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 30 cm (E, A, and Bt horizons).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.