LOCATION WARDEN                  WA+OR

Established Series
Rev. HRG/TLA/RWL
09/2019

WARDEN SERIES

Landscape--hills, plateaus, valleys
Landform--dominantly terraces and terrace escarpments, but also strath terraces, hillslopes, and dunes
Slope--0 to 65 percent
Parent material--thin mantle of loess over lacustrine or glaciolacustrine deposits
Mean annual precipitation--about 180 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about 10 degrees C
Depth class--very deep, deep
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--aridic
Soil temperature regime--mesic
Soil moisture subclass--xeric

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Xeric Haplocambids

TYPICAL PEDON: Warden very fine sandy loam, cultivated

Ap--0 to 15 cm; very fine sandy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine roots; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary

Bw--15 to 48 cm; very fine sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary

2Bk--48 to 102 cm; silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few thinly laminated lenses; common fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; few secondary lime aggregates; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary

2C1--102 to 137 cm; very fine sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary

2C2--137 to 150 cm; silt loam, light gray (10YR 7/2) dry, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few roots; few very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6)

TYPE LOCATION: Adams County, Washington; about 30 m south and 150 m east of the northwest corner of section 19, T. 16 N., R. 30 E., Willamette Meridian

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--10 to 13 degrees C
Moisture control section--continuously dry in all parts between depths of 10 and 30 cm from about May 1 to October 1
Depth to secondary carbonates--38 to 97 cm
Depth to a duripan in some pedons--more than 100 cm
Content of gravel--as much as 15 percent

Ap horizon
Value--5 or 6 dry; 3, 4, or 5 moist
Chroma--2 or 3 moist or dry
Texture--fine sandy loam, silt loam, very fine sandy loam
Content of clay--5 to 15 percent
Content of fine gravel--0 to 2 percent
Thickness--8 to 25 cm

Bw horizon
Value--5 or 6 dry; 3, 4, or 5 moist
Chroma--2 to 4 moist or dry
Texture--very fine sandy loam, silt loam
Content of clay--8 to 15 percent
Content of fine gravel--0 to 2 percent
Thickness--23 to 71 cm

2Bk horizon
Hue--10YR, 2.5Y
Value--6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma--2 or 3 moist or dry
Texture--stratified silt loam and very fine sandy loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent--1 to 30 percent
Thickness--20 to 100 cm

2C horizon
Texture-- silt loam to loamy fine sand
Vertical or diagonal clastic dikes--in some pedons

COMPETING SERIES:
Bedground--100 to 150 cm (deep) to a lithic contact; no secondary carbonates above 50 cm
Sagemoor--38 to 76 cm to continuous thin laminations; 36 to 61 cm to secondary carbonates
Shano--no stratified substratum; 20 to 115 cm to secondary carbonates

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation--90 to 400 m
Climate--warm, dry summers; cool, moist winters
Mean annual precipitation--150 to 230 mm
Mean January air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Mean July air temperature--about 22 degrees C
Mean annual air temperature--about 9 to 12 degrees C
Frost-free season--135 to 200 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Gravden--loamy-skeletal particle-size class; 25 to 50 cm (shallow) to a duripan; on terraces
Kennewick--calcareous in all parts; on terraces
Royal, Sagehill--coarse-loamy particle-size class; on terraces
Sagemoor--38 to 76 cm to continuous thin laminations; 36 to 61 cm to secondary carbonates
Shano--solum more than 150 cm thick; no stratified substratum; 30 to 114 cm to secondary carbonates
Taunton--coarse-loamy particle-size class; on terraces; 50 to 100 cm (moderately deep) to a duripan
Wahluke--weakly cemented; no cambic horizon; on lakebeds and terraces

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--well drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--moderately high

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--irrigated crop production, livestock grazing, some nonirrigated crop production
Nonirrigated crops--wheat and rye grown in a summer fallow system
Irrigated crops--wheat, grass-legume hay, potatoes, dry beans, dry peas, tree fruit, hops, mint, vegetables
Native vegetation--bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, needleandthread, big sagebrush

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Washington and north-central Oregon; MLRAs 7 and 8; moderate extent

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Columbia Basin Area Reconnaissance, Washington; 1929

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and other features in this pedon
*Ochric epipedon
*Cambic horizon--zone from 15 to 48 cm
*Carbonate accumulation--zone from 48 to 102 cm
*Calcium carbonate equivalent--assumed less than 15 percent
*Particle-size control section--zone from 25 to 100 cm

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.