LOCATION TOULON NV+CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Toulon very gravelly loam--rangeland. (Surface phase represents a mixed texture of the top 10 inches. Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered with approximately 75 percent pebbles and 15 percent cobbles which have a dark brown (10YR 4/3 dry) desert varnish on the upper side.
A1--0 to 3 inches; white (2.5Y 8/2) gravelly silt loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; strong very thick platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many very fine and fine vesicular pores; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
A2--3 to 10 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; many interstitial pores; few small fragments of decomposing tufa; fine carbonate coats and some fine gypsum crystals on the undersides of pebbles; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 9 inches thick)
Bw1--10 to 13 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) very gravelly coarse sandy loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine and few medium roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; many fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) fine and medium carbonate coats on the undersides of pebbles; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw2--13 to 20 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) very gravelly coarse sandy loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; many fine and medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) fine and medium carbonate coats on the undersides of pebbles; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 11 inches thick)
Bk--20 to 62 inches; gray (N 5) and pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) very gravelly and cobbly very coarse sand, very dark gray (2.5Y N 3/0) and pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) moist; common colorless quartz grains and other very pale brown (10YR 7/3) sand and fine pebbles; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; slightly effervescent to strongly effervescent where carbonates coat the undersides of pebbles and cobbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4).
TYPE LOCATION: Pershing County, Nevada; about 7 miles southwest of Lovelock; 970 feet west and 1,500 feet south of the northeast corner of section 18, T. 26 S., R. 31 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist for short periods during winter and spring, dry summer to mid-fall; typic aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature - 53 to 57 degrees F.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 13 to 20 inches.
Reaction - Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Salinity (EC) - 0 to 4 mmhos/cm.
Sodicity (SAR) - 0 to 12.
Gypsum content - 0 to 2 percent.
Other features - Soils on the lower parts of bars and terraces, commonly have thinner A and Bw horizons than those on higher parts.
A horizon - Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Effervescence: Noneffervescent to violently effervescent.
Bw horizons - Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Very gravelly sandy loam, very gravelly loam, or very gravelly coarse sandy loam.
Rock fragments: 40 to 60 percent, mostly pebbles.
Consistence: Soft or slightly hard dry.
Effervescence: Slightly effervescent to violently effervescent.
Identifiable secondary carbonates: None to very few carbonate coats on the undersides of rock fragments.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent.
Redoximorphic features: Relict redox concentrations of iron commonly increase with depth.
Other features: Some pedons lack gypsum and fragments of tufa. Some pedons have thin strata of fine sandy loam and very fine sandy loam.
Bk horizons - Hue 10YR, 7.5YR, or neutral (N).
Value: 5 through 8 dry, 4 through 8 moist.
Chroma: 0 through 2 dry, 0 through 4 moist.
Texture: Stratified gravelly coarse sand to extremely cobbly coarse sand.
Clay content: 0 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: Average 5 to 35 percent cobbles, 45 to 60 percent pebbles. Any single stratum may contain up to 80 percent pebbles or cobbles. Lithology of fragments is mixed, but includes tufa.
Structure: Single grain or massive.
Consistence: Soft dry, very friable moist or is loose.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Annaw, Labkey, Lyx, and Pumper series. Annaw and Lyx soils are intermittently moist in the moisture control section for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and September. Lyx soils also have less than 5 percent cobbles in the particle-size control section. Labkey soils have mainly fine pebbles of granitic rocks in the particle-size control section and do not have cobbles. Pumper soils are not effervescent in the A and Bw horizons and do not have relict redox concentrations of iron.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Toulon soils are on longshore bars, beach terraces, beach plains, and barrier beaches. They formed in alluvium derived from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 8 percent. Elevations range from 3,600 to 4,500 feet. The climate is cool-arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 4 to 8 inches, the mean annual air temperature is 50 to 55 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 100 to 135 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bluewing and Whirlo soils. Bluewing soils are sandy-skeletal and do not have diagnostic subsurface horizons. Whirlo soils are loamy-skeletal and have cambic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; very low or low surface runoff; moderately rapid permeability in the solum and very rapid permeability in the substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Toulon soils are used for limited livestock grazing, as a source of gravel, and for wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, Bailey greasewood, bud sagebrush, and Indian ricegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRAs 27 and 24.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pershing County, Nevada (Lovelock Area), 1963.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 10 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 10 to 20 inches (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Bw1, Bw2 and the upper part of Bk horizon).