LOCATION WISFLAT CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Lithic Xerorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wisflat sandy loam - on a concave, southwest slope of 31 percent under red brome, annual fescue, tarweed and other annual grasses and forbs at 740 feet in elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on May 3, 1978, the soil was slightly moist throughout.)
A--0 to 6 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; strongly effervescent, carbonates disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
C--6 to 14 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine roots; few very fine tubular and many very fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent, carbonates disseminated; 5 percent angular gravel and cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt irregular boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
Cr--14 to 16 inches; strongly weathered and fractured sandstone; common very fine roots in cracks. (0 to 6 inches thick)
R--16 to 20 inches; slightly weathered massive sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Merced County, California. Approximately 11 miles southwest of the city of Los Banos, about 1 mile north northwest of the intersection of Arburua and San Carlos roads; approximately 750 feet west and 700 feet north of the southeast corner of section 34, T. 11 S., R. 9 E., MDB&M; Latitude 36 degrees, 55 minutes, 41 seconds north and Longitude 120 degrees, 57 minutes, 55 seconds west; USGS Ortigalita Peak NW Topographic Quadrangle, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a lithic contact is 11 to 20 inches. Depth to a paralithic contact is 10 to 19 inches. Wide variation in depth can occur within short distances. A paralithic contact above the lithic contact is not present in all profiles. The mean annual soil temperature is 59 degrees to 65 degrees F. and is more than 47 degrees F. from February 15 to December 15. The soil from 8 inches depth to the lithic contact is moist throughout from November 15 to May 1 and dry throughout about 120 days from June 1 to October 1 of each year.
The A horizon has color of 10YR 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 5/6, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 5/2, 5/4, 6/2, 6/4, 7/2 or 7/4. Moist color is 10YR 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/2, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/4 or 5/4. Organic matter content is less than 1 percent. Clay content is 5 to 18 percent. It is noneffervescent to strongly effervescent. Calcium carbonate equivalent is 0 to 5 percent. Gravel content is 0 to 15 percent. Cobble content is 0 to 8 percent. Reaction is neutral to moderately alkaline.
The C horizon has color of 10YR 5/3, 6/3, 6/4, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4; 2.5Y 6/2, 6/4, 7/2 or 7/4. Moist color is 10YR 4/4, 5/4; 2.5Y 4/2, 4/4, 5/2 or 5/4. Texture is gravelly sandy loam, sandy loam or loam. Clay content is 5 to 18 percent. It is strongly effervescent or violently effervescent. Calcium carbonate equivalent is 1 to 5 percent. Gravel content is 3 to 25 percent. Cobble content is 5 to 10 percent. Reaction is slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
The underlying Cr horizon of sandstone or shale is usually soft, strongly weathered, and fractured for up to 6 inches becoming extremely hard with increasing depth. The fractures are up to 1.5 inches wide and filled with soil and root material. Within 20 inches of the surface the bedrock cannot be hand dug with a spade and does not slake in water.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Hillbrick series. Hillbrick soils (MLRA 15), on foothills and mountains, have a xeric soil moisture regime bordering on an aridic soil moisture regime and are dry in all parts for about 215 days.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wisflat soils are on mountain slopes and escarpments of foothills, hills and mountains. Slope is 8 to 75 percent. These soils are formed in material weathered from sandstone or shale, usually of the Panoche Formation. Elevation is 200 to 4,810 feet. The climate is subhumid with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 9 to 14 inches. Mean January temperature is about 50 degrees F; mean July temperature is about 79 degrees F; mean annual temperature is 58 to 64 degrees F. Frost-free season is 170 to 280 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Arburua, Ayar, Conosta, Oneil and San Timoteo soils. Arburua soils, on foothills, hills and mountains, have a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches and have a fine-loamy particle-size control section. Ayar soils, on foothills, have a fine particle-size control section. Conosta soils, on foothills, have an argillic horizon and a fine particle-size control section. Oneil soils, on foothills, have a mollic epipedon, a lithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches and a fine-silty particle-size control section. San Timoteo soils, on low foothills, have a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to very high runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for livestock grazing. Vegetation is soft chess, wild oats, red brome, filaree, other annual grasses and forbs and California buckwheat. Perennial shrubs primarily occur at higher elevations and in some severely eroded areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils are in the foothills, hills and mountains of the east side of the Diablo Range in the California Coast Ranges. They are moderately extensive. MLRA-15.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Merced County, California 1984.
REMARKS: The Wisflat series formerly included with and surveyed as the Kettleman series in the Los Banos Area, California, 1939 Series Report.
Organic matter determined by Walkley-Black digestion method.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric Epipedon - the zone from 0 to 6 inches (A horizon)
Lithic Contact - the boundary at 16 inches (R horizon)