LOCATION WICKERSHAM WAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Vitrandic Dystroxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Wickersham ashy silt loam - on a 1 percent convex west-facing slope under a hardwood canopy. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--0 to 2 inches; leaves and twigs.
A--2 to 9 inches; dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) ashy silt loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) dry; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and very fine roots; common very fine irregular pores; 10 percent pebbles; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Bw1--9 to 20 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) ashy silt loam, light olive gray (5Y 6/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and coarse roots; common very fine irregular pores; 10 percent pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
Bw2--20 to 26 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) channery ashy loam, light olive gray (5Y 6/2) dry; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; common very fine irregular pores; 15 percent channers; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)
2C--26 to 35 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) very channery loamy sand, light olive gray (5Y 6/2) dry; single grain; loose; few very fine roots; 35 percent channers, 25 percent rounded pebbles; moderately acid (pH 6.0); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
2C2--35 to 62 inches; very dark gray (3/N) extremely channery sand, gray (5Y 5/1) dry; single grain; loose; 40 percent channers, 30 percent rounded pebbles; slightly acid (pH 6.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Skagit County, Washington; about 4 miles south of Wickersham, Washington, approximately 440 feet north and 400 feet west of the southeast corner, sec. 13. T. 36 N., R. 4 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum and depth to the 2C horizon is 15 to 33 inches. These soils are usually moist but are dry in the moisture control section for 45 to 60 consecutive days following summer solstice. The mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 55 degrees F. Clay content in the upper part of the control section averages from 6 to 18 percent. Rock fragments in the particle-size control section ranges from 5 to 25 percent in the upper part and from 40 to 70 percent in the lower part by weighted average. Reaction is strongly acid to slightly acid throughout.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y value of 3 through 5 moist, 5 or 6 dry, and chroma of 1 or 2 moist and dry.
The Bw horizon has hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry, and chroma of 1 through 3 moist and dry. It is silt loam, loam, gravelly loam, or channery loam. Coarse fragment content ranges from 5 to 25 percent.
The 2C horizon has hue of 2.5Y, 5Y, or N, value of 3 through 5 moist, 5 or 6 dry, and chroma of 0 to 2 moist and dry. It is very channery or extremely channery loamy sand or sand. Rock content ranges from 40 to 70 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Barneston and Ragnar series in other families. Barneston soils are sandy-skeletal. Ragnar soils are sandy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wickersham soils are on alluvial fans and terraces at elevations of 150 to 400 feet. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in alluvium from phyllite. The average annual precipitation ranges from 55 to 75 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 53 degrees F., mean January temperature is about 37 degrees F., and mean July temperature is about 62 degrees F. The frost- free season is 150 to 200 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cokedale, Mukilteo, Samish, Tokul, and Vanzandt soils and the competing Barneston soils. Cokedale soils are coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal. Mukilteo soils are Histosols. Samish soils are coarse-silty. Tokul soils have a duripan at 20 to 40 inches. Vanzandt soils are 20 to 40 inches deep to a paralithic contact with dense glacial till.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability in the solum and very rapid in the substratum. These soils are subject to rare periods of flooding.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for pasture and woodland. Native vegetation consists of Douglas-fir, red alder, paper birch, western redcedar bigleaf maple and western hemlock with an understory of vine maple, elderberry, salmonberry, geranium, and rose.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern Washington. This series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Whatcom County, Washington, 1945.
REMARKS: Classification changed 4/94 and 1/00 because of amendments to Soil Taxonomy. Estimate glass content of >5.0 percent and acid-oxalate extract of >0.4 percent. Assumed a lack of andic soil properties because of lack of reddish hue and smearyness. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are an ochric epipedon from 2 to 9 inches, a cambic horizon from 9 to 26 inches and a lithologic discontinuity to sandy-skeletal material at 26 inches.