LOCATION DOUHIDE NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, frigid Lithic Argixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Douhide very gravelly loam--forestland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The surface is partly covered by approximately 15 percent stones and 20 percent pebbles.
A1--0 to 5 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak thin platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine and fine vesicular and tubular pores; 40 percent pebbles, 5 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 cm thick)
A2--5 to 18 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine, fine and medium roots; common fine tubular pores; 30 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear wavy boundary. (13 to 23 cm thick)
Bt1--18 to 23 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very cobbly clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine, fine and medium roots; common fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 20 percent pebbles, 25 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 7.2); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 10 cm thick)
Bt2--23 to 38 cm; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very cobbly clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine roots; common fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 20 percent pebbles and 30 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 20 cm thick)
R--38 cm; fractured hard rhyolite with roots in fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Churchill County, Nevada; about 8.5 miles east-southeast of Eastgate; 800 feet north and 1,000 feet east of the southwest corner of section 8, T. 16 N., R. 38 E., USGS Carroll Summit 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 15 minutes 48 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 44 minutes 01 seconds W; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry; moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; aridic moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Soil temperature - 7 to 8 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock - 36 to 50 cm to a lithic contact.
Reaction - Neutral or slightly alkaline.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 35 to 50 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent, mostly cobbles. Lithology of fragments are volcanic rocks such as rhyolite and tuff.
A horizons - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Bt horizons - Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Texture (less than 2 millimeter fraction): Clay loam or clay
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ateron, Camool, Canest, Chen, Graley, Harlow, Itca, Vennob, and Wallsburg series.
Ateron, Camool, Harlow, Itca, and Vennob soils have a xeric moisture regime. Canest soils are 13 to 25 cm to a lithic contact. Chen soils have an abrupt boundary between the A and Bt horizons. Graley soils have mainly pebbles in the particle-size control section. Wallsburg soils have more than 50 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Douhide soils are on mountains. They formed in residuum and colluvium derived from volcanic rocks. Slopes are 30 to 50 percent. Elevations range from 1,675 to 2,440 meters. The climate is semiarid with cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 300 to 360 mm, the mean annual temperature is 6 to 7 degrees C., and the frost-free period is 70 to 90 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Duco and Ravenswood soils and the competing Itca soil. Duco soils are loamy-skeletal, shallow to lithic contacts, and have a mesic temperature regime. Ravenswood soils are clayey-skeletal and are moderately deep to lithic contacts.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, very high surface runoff, slow permeability; moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Douhide soils are used for livestock grazing, wood products, and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is a forest canopy of singleleaf pinyon and Utah juniper with an understory of mountain big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, Thurber needlegrass, antelope bitterbrush, and Idaho fescue.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Nevada. This series is not extensive. MLRA 28B.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Churchill County Area, Nevada, 1995.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 18 cm (A1 and A2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 18 to 38 cm (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 38 cm to underlying hard bedrock (R layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 18 to 38 cm (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons).