LOCATION VYLACH NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Argidic Argidurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Vylach gravelly sandy loam--rangeland (Colors for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
E--0 to 2 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine vesicular pores; 30 percent pebbles; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
A--2 to 5 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; strong fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few fine and few very fine roots; many fine interstitial pores; 10 percent pebbles; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
Bt--5 to 12 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium and fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few medium, few fine, and common very fine roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 5 percent pebbles; neutral; abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
Bqm--12 to 17 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) duripan, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; very hard, very firm; strongly cemented by secondary silica; few medium through very fine roots in fractures; 60 percent fine pebbles cemented within matrix of stratified sandy material; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Bqkm--17 to 27 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) duripan, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; massive; very hard, very firm; weakly to strongly cemented by secondary silica; few discontinuous laminae of opaline silica; few very fine roots in fractures; 50 to 70 percent fine pebbles cemented within matrix of stratified sandy material; secondary carbonates segregated in few fine filaments; noneffervescent matrix and slightly effervescent filaments; strongly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
2Cr--27 inches; interbedded soft sandstone and siltstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Lyon County, Nevada; about 2 miles northeast of Stagecoach and 0.75 mile north of U.S. Highway 50; about 2,000 feet west and 650 feet south of the northeast corner of section 31, T. 18 N., R. 24 E.; USGS Stockton Well 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 39 degrees 23 minutes 17 seconds north latitude and 119 degrees 19 minutes 50 seconds west longitude, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry; intermittently moist in winter and spring, dry in summer and fall; typic aridic moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 52 to 54 degrees F.
Abrupt textural change - A clear or abrupt horizon boundary is normally present between the A horizon and the Bt horizon accompanied by an increase in clay
content of more than 15 percent.
Depth to duripan - 9 to 17 inches.
Depth to bedrock - 20 to 30 inches to a paralithic contact. The paralithic materials below the contact are sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone, or diatomite.
Control section - Clay content: Averages 12 to 22 percent; Rock fragments: Averages 5 to 15 percent pebbles. Lithology of fragments are volcanic rocks such as andesite and basalt.
E horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 1 or 2, dry or moist.
Clay content: 2 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 30 percent pebbles.
Structure: Weak or moderate, thin to thick platy.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.
A horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Texture: Sandy loam or gravelly sandy loam.
Clay content: 2 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 10 to 20 percent pebbles.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.
Bt horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Sandy clay loam or clay loam.
Clay content: 20 to 35 percent.
Rock fragments: 5 to 15 percent pebbles.
Reaction: Neutral to strongly alkaline.
Bqm and Bqkm horizons - Consistence: Very hard or extremely hard dry, very firm or extremely firm moist.
Cementation: Weakly cemented to strongly cemented.
Secondary silica: Occurs as finely disseminated cement within the matrix; also occurs in some horizons as few to common laminae of opaline silica 1 to 5 millimeters in thickness and 0.5 to 15 cm. in length.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belted, Deppy, Orphant, and Wovoka (T) series. None of these soils have paralithic contacts of soft bedrock within 60 inches of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vylach soils are on pediments. They typically occur on summit positions. These soils formed in alluvium derived from volcanic rocks. Slopes are 2 to 8 percent. Elevations range from 4,300 to 5,500 feet. The climate is arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 4 to 8 inches, mean annual temperature is 50 to 52 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 100 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Weena soil. Weena soils are loamy, very shallow and shallow to paralithic contacts, and do not have diagnostic subsurface horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very high surface runoff; moderately slow permeability in the subsoil over slow permeability in the duripan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Vylach soils are used for livestock grazing and urban development. The vegetation in rangeland is mainly Bailey's greasewood, shadscale, bud sagebrush, and Indian ricegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive with about 8,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 27.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lyon County, Nevada, 1981.
REMARKS: This revision moves the series type location from Washoe County, Nevada to a more representative area in Lyon County, Nevada. The Vylach soils as mapped in the Surprise Valley-Home Camp Area, California-Nevada are ashy and glassy and will be correlated to another series.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 5 inches (E and A horizons).
Albic horizon - The zone from the soil surface to 2 inches (E horizon).
Abrupt textural change - The abrupt clay increase of more than 15 percent at 5 inches (between the A and Bt horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 5 to 12 inches (Bt horizon).
Duripan - The zone from 12 to 27 inches (Bqm and Bqkm horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 27 inches to underlying soft bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 12 inches (E, A, and Bt horizons).