LOCATION PETSPRING NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid, mesic, shallow Xeric Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Petspring very gravelly coarse sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 3 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly coarse sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable; slightly sticky and nonplastic; very few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 55 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 cm thick)
A2--3 to 10 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly coarse sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable; slightly sticky and nonplastic; very few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 45 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 15 cm thick)
Cr--10 cm; highly weathered granite.
TYPE LOCATION: Mineral County, Nevada in the Gabbs Valley Range, approximately 2,600 feet north and 2,600 feet west of the southwest corner of section 29, T. 9 N., R. 34 E.; 38 degrees, 37 minutes, 42 seconds north latitude and 118 degrees, 13 minutes, 50 seconds west longitude, NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and autumn, except moist for 10 to 20 cumulative days between July and October due to convection storms, aridic moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Soil temperature - 12 to 15 degrees C.
Depth to weathered bedrock - 10 to 25 cm.
Depth to unweathered bedrock - 50 to 75 cm.
Reaction - Slightly acid or neutral.
Control section - Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 55 percent, predominantly 2 to 5 millimeter pebbles.
A horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry, or moist.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Shoken series. Shoken soils are not moist in the upper part for 10 to 20 days between July and September.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Petspring soils are on mountain backslopes, hills and rock pediment remnants. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium weathered from granodiorite. Elevations are 1,320 to 2,130 meters. Slopes are 15 to 75 percent. The climate is cool semiarid, with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 200 to 250 mm; mean annual temperatures range from 10 to 12 degrees C., and the frost-free season is 100 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Budihol and Chill soils. Budihol and Chill soils have less than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section and Chill soils also have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; moderately rapid permeability (high saturated hydraulic conductivity).
USE AND VEGETATION: Petspring soils are used principally for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation is Wyoming big sagebrush, desert needlegrass, littleleaf horsebrush, spiny hopsage and galleta grass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Nevada. The soils are not extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Mineral County, Nevada, 1985.
REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 10 cm.
Paralithic contact - The boundary at about 10 cm.