LOCATION ZABA                    NV

Established Series
Rev: JHD/WED/JBF
07/2016

ZABA SERIES

The Zaba series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in water deposited gravel and sands derived from mixed rocks. Zaba soils are on beach plains. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 100 mm and mean annual temperature is about 12 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haplargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Zaba very gravelly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is 50 to 90 percent covered with a well developed gravel pavement of sub-angular and rounded gravel ranging in size from about 1 to 4 cm in diameter.

A--0 to 10 cm; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) very gravelly loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many coarse vesicular pores; 50 percent gravel; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 25 cm thick)

Bt--10 to 53 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly coarse sandy loam lamellae, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) loamy very coarse sand interlamellae, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; nonsticky and nonplastic between the lamellae; few very fine and fine vesicular pores; 40 percent gravel; violently effervescent; strongly effervescent to violently effervescent between the lamellae; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 50 cm thick)

Bqk--53 to 152 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sand; pale brown (10YR 6/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 50 percent gravel; thin carbonate and silica coats on underside of gravel; strongly effervescent and violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4).

TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; approximately 1/4 mile south of the junction of the North Umberland Road and the ungraded motor road that skirts the edge of the playas; about 900 feet west of the assumed northeast corner of section 17, T. 14 N., R. 44 E.; USGS East of Millett Ranch 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 4 minutes 49 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 3 minutes 13 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.0803889 latitude, -117.0536111 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for l0 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to carbonate and silica coating rock fragments: 25 to 64 cm.
Exchangeable sodium: 15 to 35 percent in argillic horizon.
Carbonates: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: Average 5 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: Average 35 to 60 percent dominantly gravel 0.5 to 2 cm.

A horizon
Hue: l0YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 7 or 8 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.

Bt horizon
Hue: l0YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: Lamellae are sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam or silt loam, between lamellae is loamy sand through coarse sand.
Modifier: Very gravelly
Other features: Three to eight lamellae are commonly present and are 5 to 15 cm thick.
Structure: Commonly massive but with thin discontinuous layers that have very fine granular or very fine to medium blocky structure in some pedons.

Bqk horizon
Hue: l0YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 through 8 dry; 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 4, or 5.
Texture: Sand or coarse sand. Thin strata of loam or sandy loam are present in some pedons.
Rock fragments: 40 to 80 percent gravel, mostly 5 to 2.5 cm in diameter.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Fireball, Jurado, Minnye, Perazzo, Preatorson, Rednik, and Stonell series.

Fireball, Jurado, Minnye, Perazzo, Preatorson, Rednik, and Stonell soils lack lamellae and have more than l8 percent clay in the Bt horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Zaba soils are on beach plains. Elevations are 1,410 to 1,710 meters. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. The soils formed in lake deposited sand and gravel derived primarily from basalt, rhyolite, and some granitic rocks. The climate is arid with a mean annual precipitation of 75 to 150 mm, the mean annual temperature is about 11 to 14 degrees C, and the frost-free season is 110 to 160 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Nyserva and Yobe soils. Nyserva soils have a natric horizon and durinodes. Yobe soils are fine-silty.

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

USE AND VEGETATION: Livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is black greasewood, shadscale, and Cooper wolfberry.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Nevada. These soils are of small extent. MLRA 29.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (Big Smoky Valley Area), Nevada, l972.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 10 cm. (A horizon).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 10 to 53 cm (Bt horizon).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 53 cm (Bt horizon).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.