LOCATION ZALDA NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Typic Haplodurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Zalda gravelly sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with 40 percent pebbles and 2 percent cobbles.
A1--0 to 3 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine interstitial and tubular pores; few very fine roots; 15 percent pebbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
A2--3 to 7 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium and coarse platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; many very fine and fine vesicular, common very fine and fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bqkm--7 to 8 inches; extremely hard lime-silica hardpan with an indurated laminar cap 3 to 5 millimeters thick; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 8 inches thick)
R--8 inches; basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; 750 feet west, 200 feet north of the projected southeast corner of section 31, T. 13 S., R. 49 E.; 36 degrees, 46 minutes, 21 seconds north latitude and 116 degrees, 29 minutes, 40 seconds west longitude, NAD-1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist for short periods of time in the late winter and spring; Typic Aridic moisture regime. The ratio of soil moisture utalized for evapotranspiration between summer and winter is about 0.4:1, typical of the Mojave Desert.
Soil temperature - 62 to 67 degrees F.
Depth to duripan - 7 to 14 inches.
Depth to bedrock - 8 to 15 inches.
Other features - Some pedons contain a thin Bw horizon that is slightly effervescent.
Control section - Clay content: 6 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 25 percent.
A horizons - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Texture of fine earth: Fine sandy loam or loam.
Bqkm horizon - Continuous laminar cap on unfractured bedrock.
Cementation - Very strongly cemented or indurated.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alko(NV), Muroc(CA), Nebona(CA), and Stewart(AZ) series. Alko, Nebona, and Stewart soils lack bedrock under the hardpan. Muroc soils have a duripan over soft weathered granitic rock, and have sandy loam or coarse sandy loam textures, and contain fine pebbles from decomposed granite.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Zalda soils are on low hill summits and crests. The soils formed in residuum from rhyolitic ash fall tuffs and igneous flow rocks with a component of eolian materials. Slopes are 2 to 30 percent. Elevations are 2,500 to 4,200 feet. The climate is arid with hot, dry summers and cool winters, typical of the Move Desert. The average annual precipitation is between 3 and 10 inches; the average annual temperature is about 60 to 65 degrees F., and the frost-free season 210 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Akela, Longjim and Shorim soils. Akela soils lack duripans over the bedrock and are found near rock outcrops. Longjim and Shorim soils have loamy-skeletal control sections are generally found on steeper positions of the landform.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate to rapid runoff; moderately rapid permeability above the duripan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation consists of shadscale, desertholly, white bursage, creosotebush, and wolfberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern Nevada. The soils are not extensive. MLRA 30.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County, Nevada, Southwest Part, 1994. The name is coined.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 7 inches (A1 and A2 horizons)
Duripan - The indurated zone from 7 to 8 inches (Bqkm horizon).