LOCATION WINTERMUTE              NV

Established Series
Rev. ARW-PWB-JVC-JBF
12/2016

WINTERMUTE SERIES

The Wintermute series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in mixed alluvium derived from limestone, dolomite and slate. Wintermute soils are on fan remnants, fan skirts, and beach plains. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 180 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 8 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Durinodic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Wintermute gravelly silt loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A1--0 to 8 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly silt loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine, few fine through coarse roots; many very fine vesicular pores; few medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 25 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 10 cm thick)

A2--8 to 20 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine, few fine through coarse roots; common very fine tubular pores; few medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 15 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 18 cm thick)

Bk--20 to 38 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly silt loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightlysticky and slightly plastic; common very fine, few fine through coarse roots; common very fine tubular pores; common medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 30 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 30 cm thick)

2Bqk1--38 to 79 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) very gravelly sandy loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) moist; continuous firm brittle matrix; massive; hard, firm and brittle, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; common krotovinas that are from 20 to 50 mm in diameter, with pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly silt loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist, and many very fine roots; 15 percent discontinuous strong silica cementation in horizontal bands; common medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 55 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (25 to 76 cm thick)

2Bqk2--79 to 135 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely gravelly loamy sand, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores and many very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent discontinuous weak cementation by carbonates; common medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 65 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt wavy boundary. (25 to 86 cm thick)

3C--135 to 152 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly silty clay loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine tubular pores; common fine relict masses of manganese accumulation; common medium secondary calcium carbonate pendants on the bottom of rock fragments; 25 percent gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4).

TYPE LOCATION: Elko County, Nevada; about 10 miles south-southwest of Currie in Steptoe Valley; about 2,800 feet south and 2,100 feet west of the northeast corner of section 16, T. 26 N., R. 64 E.; USGS McDermid Ranch 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 40 degrees 07 minutes 41 seconds N and longitude 114 degrees 45 minutes 33 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 40.1280556 latitude, -114.7591667 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in winter through mid spring, dry late spring through fall; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 8 to 11 degrees C.
Depth to calcic horizon and horizons with firm, brittle matrix: 20 to 50 cm.

Control section - Clay content: 8 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: Averages 35 to 60 percent. The upper part of the particle-size control section averages 15 to 35 percent, dominantly gravel. The lower part averages 45 to 85 percent, of which 35 to 55 percent are gravel and 10 to 30 percent are cobbles and stones.

A horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry, 3 or 4 moist.

Bk horizon
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Identifiable secondary calcium carbonates: few through many distinct or prominent pendants or masses on rock fragments.

2Bqk horizons
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 5 or 6 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Stratified extremely cobbly loamy sand to very gravelly sandy loam.
Consistence: Hard dry, firm and brittle moist, nonsticky or slightly sticky, nonplastic or slightly plastic. Subhorizons are soft to slightly hard and very friable to friable moist.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 35 percent.
Other features: Some pedons have up to 35 percent discontinuous one to three inch thick indurated or strongly silica and carbonate cemented lenses or strata in the Bqk2 horizon.

C horizon (when present)
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Clay content: 27 to 35 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 35 percent, dominantly gravel.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 35 percent.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Laxal series. Laxal soils have soil temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees C and are moist for 10 to 20 days in the summer.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wintermute soils are on fan remnants, fan skirts, and beach plains. These soils formed in alluvium derived from limestone, dolomite, and slate. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. Elevations range from 1,590 to 2,080 meters. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 150 to 200 mm, mean annual temperature is 7 to 9 degrees C., and the frost-free period is 100 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Automal, Eastwell, and Okan soils. Automal soils have an aridic moisture regime that borders on xeric. Eastwell soils are shallow to duripans. Okan soils lack calcic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; high or very high surface runoff; moderately high saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Wintermute soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, rabbitbrush, bud sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, bottlebrush squirreltail, and cheatgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern Nevada. These soils are extensive with about 125,000 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 28B.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: White Pine County (Western Part), Nevada, 1990.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm. (A1 and part of the A2 horizons)
Calcic horizon - The zone from 38 to 79 cm. (2Bqk1 horizon)
Duric feature - The zone from 38 to 79 cm. (2Bqk1 horizon)
Particle size control section - The zone from 25 to 100 cm (2Bqk1 horizon and parts of the A3 and 2Bqk2 horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: A pedon within 5 miles of the series type location was sampled for full characterization by the Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL), Lincoln, NE, as soil survey sample number S89NV-007-004. That pedon is a taxadjunct to the Wintermute series because it has carbonatic instead of mixed mineralogy. It also is moderately saline and moderately sodic. Further study of the series concept is needed to determine the dominant mineralogy class and chemical properties.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.