LOCATION NUSS OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Lithic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Nuss stony loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) stony loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak medium platy structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and few fine roots; few very fine and few fine vesicular pores; 10 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); gradual smooth boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bw1--4 to 12 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and few fine roots; few very fine and few fine tubular pores; 20 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bw2--12 to 15 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) cobbly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and few fine roots; few very fine and few fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
R--15 inches; fractured basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Harney County, Oregon; in the Water Mountains about 11 miles east-southeast of Buchannan; about 800 feet north and 1,800 feet east of the southwest corner of section 9, T. 23 S., R. 35 E.; USGS Coleman Mountain 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 43 degrees 35 minutes 0 seconds north latitude and 118 degrees 25 minutes 27 seconds west longitude, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soils are usually moist but are dry in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches about 60 to 90 consecutive days in the 4 month period following the summer solstice and are moist in the winter; Xeric moisture regime that borders on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 44 to 47 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock - 10 to 20 inches to a lithic contact.
Mollic epipedon thickness - 7 to 17 inches; includes the Bw horizons in most pedons.
Reaction - Slightly acid through slightly alkaline.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 18 to 30 percent; Rock fragments: Averages 5 to 30 percent, mainly gravel and cobbles. Lithology of fragments are volcanic rocks such as basalt, andesite, and tuff.
Other features - In some pedons where the underlying bedrock is tuff the upper few inches of the lithic contact is slightly weathered.
A horizon and AB horizon (when present) - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 1 through 3, dry or moist.
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent.
Organic matter content: 1 to 3 percent.
Bw horizons - Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 2 through 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Gravelly loam, gravelly clay loam, cobbly loam, cobbly clay loam, loam, or clay loam.
Rock fragments: 5 to 30 percent.
Organic matter content: 0.5 to 2 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Choptie, Doyn, Quicksilver, Sadorus, and Spaa series.
Choptie soils have 12 to 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Doyn soils are 4 to 10 inches to a lithic contact and have an aridic moisture regime. Quicksilver soils have 6 to 15 percent clay and 25 percent or more coarse sand and very coarse sand in the particle-size control section. Sadorus soils have 5 to 12 percent clay in the particle-size control section. Spaa soils have horizons with secondary carbonates and rock fragments of travertine in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nuss soils are on hills, plateaus, and structural benches. These soils formed in colluvium and residuum derived from volcanic rocks such as basalt, andesite, and tuff. Some areas are influenced by surface additions of volcanic ash. Slopes are 0 to 70 percent. Elevations range from 4,000 to 6,500 feet. The climate is semiarid and characterized by cold, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 20 inches. The mean January temperature is about 27 degrees F. and the mean July temperature is about 62 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is 40 to 45 degrees F. The frost-free period is 20 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ateron, Booth, Bullump, and Royst soils. Ateron soils are clayey-skeletal. Booth soils are in the fine family and are 20 to 40 inches deep to bedrock. Bullump soils are loamy-skeletal and are over 40 inches deep to bedrock. Royst soils are clayey-skeletal and have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very high surface runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Nuss soils are used for livestock grazing, limited timber production, and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly mountain big sagebrush, curlleaf mountainmahogany, Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, Cusick's bluegrass, and scattered ponderosa pine and western juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Oregon. These soils are moderately extensive. The series concept is in MLRA 10, while the main acreage occurs in MLRA 21.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Klamath County (Southern Part), Oregon, 1977.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 15 inches (A, Bw1, and Bw2 horizons).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 15 inches to underlying hard bedrock (R layer).
This revision of January 2004 moves the type location from Klamath County to Harney County, Oregon to better represent the series concept as being shallow to a lithic contact. Future study is needed to determine whether Nuss soils as mapped in Klamath County are typically shallow to a paralithic contact and to determine the amount of volcanic ash influence in the fine-earth fraction.
The classification was changed in 1991 from Loamy, mixed, frigid, shallow Typic Haploxerolls. A lithic contact was deemed to be present below the soil that was not described in the older description.
The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. Property data in NASIS validates the superactive activity class.