LOCATION WARDENOT NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Wardenot gravelly fine sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 8 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine, fine, medium and coarse roots; many very fine and few fine vesicular pores; 20 percent pebbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 15 cm thick)
A2--8 to 13 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine, fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial and few very fine tubular pores; 30 percent pebbles; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 15 cm thick)
Bqk--13 to 64 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and few fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; 50 percent pebbles; moderately thick white (10YR 8/1) lime coats on top and bottom of pebbles, and very pale brown (10YR 7/3) silica coats on bottom of pebbles; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 9.0); gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 120 cm thick)
Bk--64 to 152 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive, soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and common fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 55 percent pebbles; white (10YR 8/1) lime coats on the undersides of pebbles; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6)
TYPE LOCATION: Nye County, Nevada; about one-half mile north and 500 feet east of the southeast corner of section 34, T. 9 N., R. 42 E. latitude 38 degrees 35 minutes 44 seconds N and longitude 117 degrees 14 minutes 15 seconds W; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature - 12 to 15 degrees C.
Reaction - Mildly alkaline to strongly alkaline, commonly increases with depth.
Particle-size control section - Rock fragments: 40 to 75 percent; includes cobbles and stones.
A horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Carbonates: Noneffervescent to strongly effervescent, may be violently effervescent where influenced by eolian depositions.
Bqk and Bk horizons - Value: 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Structure: Single grained or massive.
Consistence: Nonsticky to slightly sticky and nonplastic to slightly plastic.
Texture: Stratified extremely gravelly fine sandy loam to cobbly loamy sand. Strata of very gravelly or cobbly sandy loam or fine sandy loam in upper part of substratum.
Texture (less than 2 millimeters): Averages loamy sand.
Rock fragments: 40 to 75 percent average; individual strata have as little as 25 percent rock fragments.
Other features: Lime and silica pendants commonly are present in some part of the B horizon.
Carbonates: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Bluewing, Gynelle, Inmo, Ioka, Itme, Izamatch, Izo, Leo, Nepalto and Willwood series.
Bluewing, Gynelle, Inmo, Itme, Izamatch, Izo, Ioka, Leo and Willwood soils lack Bqk horizons. Also, Bluewing, Inmo, Itme, Izo and Willwood soils lack strata of sandy loam in the control section. Nepalto soils have hue of 2.5YR.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Wardenot soils are on alluvial fans, fan piedmonts, fan skirts, alluvial flats and inset fans. These soils formed in alluvium from mixed rocks. Slopes are 0 to 30 percent. Elevations are 1,310 to 1,890 meters. The climate is semiarid and cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual temperature is 11 to 14 degrees C.; the mean annual precipitation is 100 to 200 mm, and the frost-free season is about 100 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Unsel and the competing Izo soils. Unsel soils have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; slow to medium runoff; rapid permeability; very high or high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The vegetation is mainly shadscale, bud sagebrush, Kings desertgrass, Indian ricegrass and galleta.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 27, 29 and 28B.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (Big Smoky Valley Area), Nevada, 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to 18 cm (A1, A2 and part of Bqk horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 25 to 100 cm.