LOCATION WATERMAN CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Lithic Xerorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Waterman gravelly loamy sand on a west-facing
linear slope of 55 percent under Jeffery pine at 6800 feet
elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on 6/2/80 the soil was moist below 3 inches.)
A--0 to 3 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly
loamy sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain;
loose, very friable; few very fine and fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; 25 percent pebbles, 5 percent cobbles;
slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
C--3 to 10 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) very gravelly loamy
sand, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; single grain; soft, very friable; common fine, medium and coarse roots; 40 percent pebbles, 5
percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.9); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
R--10 inches; highly fractured, in place, hard granodiorite,
can be broken out into cobble-size pieces, with roots in the fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Los Angeles County, California; above the Angeles Crest Highway (State Highway 2), 75 feet south of the turnout at Cloudburst Canyon Drainage and 50 feet up from the road; 400 feet east and 1400 feet south of the northwest corner section 16, T.3
N., R.10 W., SBBM.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a fractured lithic contact is
10 to 20 inches. The mean annual soil temperature at the contact
is 47 to 59 degrees F. The soil moisture control section (14 to
20 inches or to the top of the contact) is usually dry from mid-
June to late October and moist in some or all parts the rest of
the year. Reaction is medium acid through neutral.
The A horizon dry color is 10YR 6/2, 6/4, 5/4, 5/3, 5/2, 4/3, or
2.5Y 6/2. Moist color is 10YR 4/3, 4/2, 3/3, or 3/2. Colors that meet the requirements for mollic are not directly underlain by bedrock. It is gravelly loamy sand, or very gravelly loamy sand
and averages 15 to 50 percent rock fragments. Bouldery phases are recognized with 5 to 15 percent surface coverage.
The C horizon dry color is 10YR 7/2, 7/1, 6/4, 6/3, 5/6, 5/4, 5/3,
or 2.5Y 6.2. Moist color is 10YR 5/3, 4/4, 4/3, or 2.5Y 4/2. It
is very gravelly loamy sand and averages 35 to 60 percent rock fragments.
A Cr horizon (paralithic material) is present in some pedons
between the C horizons and the lithic contact.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Schoolhouse series in the same family and the similar
Etsel,
Pacifico and
Wapi series in other families. Etsel soils have a loamy-skeletal control section. Pacifico soils lack a lithic contact within 20 inches. Schoolhouse soils have average annual temperatures of 45 to 48 degrees F.,
with average January temperatures of about 20 degrees F. Wapi
soils are non-skeletal.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Waterman soils are on mountain back slopes at elevations of 4300 to 8000 feet. Slopes range from 9 to 80
percent. When at elevations greater than 7500 feet, the soil is on south aspects. The soil formed in material weathered from
granitic rocks. The climate consists of warm dry summers and cool moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 18 to 34 inches. Average January temperature is 42 degrees F.; average July temperature is 70 degrees F.; mean annual temperature is 50 to 56 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Springdale soils
and the competing
Pacifico and
Wapi soils. Pacifico and Wapi are
in a similar position as Waterman. Pacifico soils are sandy and have a paralithic contact. Soils in the Springdale family may be
in a similar position or may also be in a colluvial position.
They are greater than 20 inches deep to bedrock.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; medium to very
rapid runoff; permeability is rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is Jeffery pine, ponderosa pine, incense- cedar, sugar pine, white fir, canyon live oak, scrub oak, mountain whitehorn, bitterbrush and manzanita.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountain back slopes, Transverse Range, Southern California and Lassen County, California. The soil is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Los Angeles County (Angeles National Forest), California, 1980.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - zone from the surface to 10 inches (A, C
horizon)
Lithic contact - zone at 10 inches. (R horizon)
Particle-size control section - 0 to 10 inches (whole soil)
Xeric moisture regime