LOCATION WILST NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Duric Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wilst very gravelly sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise noted.) 50 percent of the soil surface is covered with pebble-size pan fragments and 3 percent cobble-size pan fragments.
A--0 to 4 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; strong fine and medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and few medium roots; many very fine and few medium roots; many very fine and fine tubular pores; 40 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt broken boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bqk--4 to 10 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) gravelly sandy loam, pale brown (10YR 5/3) moist; strong very thick platy structure; hard, firm and brittle, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine through coarse roots; few very fine tubular pores; 15 percent pebbles; 80 percent hard silica and lime cemented plates; few thin lime and silica pendants on undersides of pebbles; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt broken boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bk--10 to 20 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly plastic and nonsticky; few medium and few very fine and fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 45 percent pebbles; common prominent lime coats on undersides of pebbles; common pan fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)
Bqk'--20 to 21 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) very gravelly sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; strong very coarse platy structure; hard, firm and brittle, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots between plates; few very fine tubular pores; 50 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt broken boundary. (0 to 3 inches thick)
Bk'--21 to 33 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) very gravelly sandy loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; nonsticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium, few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 50 percent pebbles; common thin lime coats on undersides of rock fragments; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (9 to 15 inches thick)
R--33 inches; hard tufaceous bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada, 6 1/2 miles northeast of Beatty and about 50 feet east and 100 feet south of the projected northwest corner of section 19, T. 11 S., R. 48 E. MDBLM.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry but moist in some part of the moisture control section for short periods in the winter and spring and for very short intermittent periods following summer convection storms.
Soil temperature: 59 to 64 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock: 20 to 40 inches.
Depth to weakly cemented layer: 3 to 10 inches.
Control section Percent clay: 8 to 15.
Rock fragments: 35 to 55 percent.
A horizon Value: 5 through 7 moist or dry.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard dry, very friable or friable moist.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Other features: Surface of some pedons is covered with white pan fragments.
Bqk horizons Value: 5 through 7 moist or dry.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Texture of fine earth: Coarse sandy loam or sandy loam,
Other features: Some plates are vertically displaced allowing roots to penetrate.
Bk horizons Value: 6 or 7 moist or dry.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Texture of fine earth: Sandy loam, coarse sandy loam.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Sanwell (T NV) series. Sanwell soils are more than 60 inches deep to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wilst soils are on convex old rock pediment remnants. These soils formed in mixed alluvium over tuff bedrock. Slope gradient is 4 to 8 percent. Elevations are 3,000 to 4,700 feet. The climate is hot, arid with dry summers and winters. The mean annual precipitation is between 5 and 9 inches; the mean annual temperature is between 58 and 63 degrees F.; and the frost-free season is about 190 to 210 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Dedas, and Orwash series. Dedas soils are found on summits and sideslopes of pediment remnants. They have argillic horizons. Orwash soils are found in concave washes and footslopes. They are greater than 60 inches deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, creosotebush, winterfat, spiny menodora and blackbrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 30.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES PROPOSED: Nye County, Nevada, Southwest Part, 1982. The name is coined.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 4 inches ( A horizon)
Duric features - The zone from 4 to 10 inches (Bqk horizon)
Particle size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Bk, Bqk and B'k horizon)