LOCATION WARDBORO ID+OR WYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, frigid Xeric
Torrifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wardboro sandy loam, pasture. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine, fine, and medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; few rounded pebbles; slightly calcareous; mildly alkaline (pH 7.7); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)
C1--2 to 11 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine, few medium roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; few pebbles; slightly calcareous; mildly alkaline (pH 7.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 18 inches thick)
IIC2--11 to 60 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly coarse sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; 15 percent of sand and gravel is very dark gray (10YR 3/1), black (10YR 2/1) moist; about 75 percent is multi-colored rounded gravel, mostly quartzite; single grained; loose; slightly calcareous, pebbles not coated or only very slightly coated on lower side with calcium carbonate; mildly alkaline (pH 7.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Bingham County, Idaho; about 1 mile south and 1 mile east of Riverside; 1,500 feet east of the SW corner of section 6, T.3S., R.35E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The average annual soil temperature ranges from 41 to 47 degrees F., and the average summer soil temperature at depth of 20 inches ranges from 60 to 66 degrees F. The soils are usually dry but are moist for about 60 to 90 days in early spring. The 10- to 40-inch control section, as a weighted average, is coarse-textured and has 35 to 80 percent rock fragments, mainly rounded pebbles and cobbles; but a moderately coarse textured layer 1 to 9 inches thick is between depths of 10 and 20 inches. Below a depth ranging from 11 to 20 inches, gravelly or very gravelly coarse sand or sand is dominant; but gravelly loamy sand is in some pedons. The organic matter content is low and decrease irregularly with increasing depth. The soils are slightly or moderately calcareous (less than 15 percent lime) throughout and have no distinct accumulation of secondary carbonates.
The A horizon or the upper part when mixed to 7 inches has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. If this layer is both darker than value of 5.5 dry and 3.5 moist, broken and crushed, the organic matter content is less than 1 percent.
The C horizon is slightly lighter in color than the A horizon and is structureless, or has very weak granular, or weak subangular blocky structure.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Anabella, Ashley, Beebe, Bluewing, Hayeston, Heiseton, Newcastle, Sigurd, Ursine, and Wolverine series. Anabella, Ashley, Beebe, Newcastle, and Sigurd soils have an average annual soil temperature warmer than 47 degrees F. Anabella, Newcastle, and Sigurd soils have a loamy-skeletal control section, and the Beebe soils have a sandy control section. Ashley soils have a strongly contrasting control section. Bluewing, Ursine, and Wolverine soils lack texture finer than loamy fine sand in the control section. Hayeston soils lack loose gravel and sand above depth of 20 inches and have a regular decrease in organic matter content with depth. Heiseton soils lack loose gravel and sand above 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The soils are on stream bottomlands and low terraces at elevations of 4,200 to 6,000 feet. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. The soils formed in moderately coarse and coarse textured alluvium, dominantly from quartzite and sedimentary rock sources but containing minor rhyolitic, basaltic, and granitic materials. The climate is semiarid, with dry summers. Average annual precipitation is 8 to 13 inches, and the average annual temperature is about 39 to 45 degrees F. Average freeze-free period is 80 to 125 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Hayeston and Heiseton soils and the Blackfoot soils. Blackfoot soils have a medium-textured control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; slow runoff; moderately rapid permeability in the A and C1 horizons and very rapid in the gravel and sand. Soils are occasionally flooded in spring unless protected by levees or upstream dams. No high water table influence except during floods.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily as rangeland; cultivated only in conjunction with soils that have gravel deeper in the profile. The principal native plants are cottonwoods, wild rose, willows, bog sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, cheatgrass, Rocky Mountain redcedar, prickly pear, and sand dropseed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Moderately extensive along streams in southeastern Idaho and possibly in nearby states.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bingham County, Idaho, 1972.