LOCATION RUHE NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic, shallow Typic Torripsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Ruhe gravelly loamy sand--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted). The soil surface is covered with 20 percent tufa fragments.
A1--0 to 1 inch; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; very few fine and few medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 25 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
A2--1 to 6 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak thick platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and few medium roots; many very fine interstitial and common very fine tubular pores; 15 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 7 inches thick)
C--6 to 14 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine interstitial and common very fine tubular pores; 10 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
2Cr--14 to 35 inches; weathered tufa bedrock; common very fine and few medium roots in fractures and channels only; clear irregular boundary. (10 to 40 inches thick)
3C'--35 to 60 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) stratified very cobbly coarse sand and sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent pebbles, 45 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; violently effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Washoe County, Nevada; on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation near the south end of the Lake Range; 2,600 feet west and 1,200 feet north of the southeast corner of section 21, T. 24 N., R. 23 E.; USGS Nixon NW 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 39 degrees 55 minutes 56 seconds north latitude and 119 degrees 24 minutes 8.5 seconds west longitude, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist for short periods in winter and spring; typic aridic (torric) moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 53 to 59 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock - 14 to 20 inches to a paralithic contact of tufa. Tufa is a chemical sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate and silica and deposited from solution in the water of springs adjacent to lakes.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 0 to 5 percent; Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent, some of which are fragments of tufa.
A horizons - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Structure: Single grain or weak subangular blocky in upper part and weak or moderate medium or thick platy structure in the lower part.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Other features: A portion of the pebbles and sand grains are tufa.
C horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Gravelly loamy sand, gravelly sand, or loamy sand.
Rock fragments: 5 to 35 percent.
Structure: Single grain or massive.
Consistence: Soft or loose.
Salinity (EC): 2 to 4 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 0 to 5.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 15 percent.
3C' horizon - Texture: Stratified extremely cobbly coarse sand to sand.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline.
Salinity (EC): 4 to 8 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR): 1 to 5.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 10 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Crustown series. Crustown soils have a mean annual soil temperature of 47 to 50 degrees F., do not have tufa fragments, and do not have unconsolidated soil material below the paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ruhe soils are on lake terraces and beach terraces associated with the ancient shorelines of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan. They formed in eolian sand and alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 15 percent. Elevations range from 4,000 to 4,400 feet. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 5 to 7 inches, mean annual temperature is 50 to 52 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bluewing and Stumble soils. Bluewing soils are sandy-skeletal and very deep. Stumble soils are sandy and very deep.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very low surface runoff; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Ruhe soils are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly shadscale, bud sagebrush, Bailey's greasewood, winterfat, needleandthread, and Indian ricegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 27.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washoe County (South Part), Nevada, 1980.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 6 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 14 inches to underlying soft, weathered bedrock.
Paralithic materials - The zone from 14 to 35 inches (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 14 inches (A1, A2, and C horizons).