LOCATION WHEELS                  AZ

Established Series
Rev. BAL/PDC/WWJ
08/2012

WHEELS SERIES

The Wheels series consists of very shallow and shallow, excessively drained soils that formed in colluvium and residuum from sandstone. Wheels soils are on ridges and buttes. Slopes range from 15 to 90 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 59 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, thermic Aridic Lithic Ustorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Wheels extremely channery loamy sand - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 2 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely channery loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thin platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many very fine interstitial and common fine tubular pores; 5 percent flagstones, 60 percent channers; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)

C--2 to 8 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) extremely channery loamy sand, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine through coarse roots; many very fine interstitial and common fine tubular pores; 70 percent channers; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt irregular boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)

2R--8 inches; sandstone of the Coconino Formation.

TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona; located about 2,550 feet south and 760 feet east of the NW corner of section 2, T. 17 N., R. 5 E.; 34 degrees, 52 minutes, 59.3 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees, 48 minutes, 37.8 seconds west longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-August and December-January. Driest during May and June. Aridic ustic soil moisture regime.

Soil Temperature: 59 to 62 degrees F.

Clay content: Averages 5 to 15 percent in the particle-size control section

Rock Fragments: Average 65 to 85 percent channers, flagstones, and stones in the particle-size control section

Depth to bedrock: 8 to 18 inches

Reaction: Neutral through moderately alkaline

Effervescence: None to strongly effervescent

Organic matter content: 1 to 3 percent

Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 5 percent

A and C horizons
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 through 6, dry or moist
Chroma: 3 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: sand, loamy sand
In some pedons the sandstone may have a thin weathering rind.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wheels soils are on ridges and buttes at elevations of 3,900 to 6,500 feet. Slopes range from 15 to 90 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium from sandstone. The mean annual precipitation is 16 to 20 inches. The mean annual air temperature is 57 to 60 degrees F. The frost-free period is 180 to 220 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Turist and Sedona soils. Sedona soils have argillic horizons and Turist soils have cambic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; rapid to very rapid runoff; rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used for wildlife habitat. Vegetation includes ceanothus, turbinella oak, canotia, mutton grass, three awn, desert needlegrass, ephedra, banana yucca, and agave.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Arizona. Wheels soils are of very limited extent. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 38. Name is derived from the frequent occurrence of certain religious symbols in the area.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Coconino County, Arizona; Soil survey of Black Hills-Sedona Area, Arizona, Parts of Coconino and Yavapai Counties; 1996.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)

Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons

Lithic contact - The boundary at 8 inches (2R horizon)

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Eleventh Edition, 2010

Revised for the correlation of Black Hills-Sedona, AZ, August 2012, CEM

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.