LOCATION ABCAL UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, active, calcareous, mesic Vertic Endoaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Abcal peaty silty clay loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 4 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) peaty silty clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine grass roots; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
A2--4 to 7 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; many fine and very fine and medium roots; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Cg1--7 to 13 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/1) silty clay loam, gray (5Y 6/1) moist; massive; very hard, very firm, moderately sticky and very plastic; many very fine and fine roots; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 11 inches thick)
Cg2--13 to 39 inches; white (2.5Y 8/1) clay, light gray (5Y 7/1) moist; massive; extremely hard, extremely firm, very sticky and very plastic; few very fine roots; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.1); gradual wavy boundary. (20 to 40 inches thick)
Cg3--39 to 60 inches; white (2.5Y 8/1) silty clay, light gray (5Y 7/1) moist; massive; strongly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.1).
TYPE LOCATION: Sanpete County, Utah; in the Sanpete Valley about 2 miles southwest of Manti and 1 mile south of Crystle Springs; approximately 1,815 feet south and 2,145 feet west of the northeast corner of section 14, T. 18 S., R. 2 E.; USGS Manti 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 39 degrees 15 minutes 04 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 39 minutes 40 seconds west longitude, NAD83; UTM zone 12N 442946E, 4344844N, NAD83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature - 47 to 51 degrees F.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 35 to 55 percent.
Linear extensibility (LE) - 6 to 9 cm.
Calcium carbonate equivalent - 15 to 30 percent.
Other features - Organic carbon content decreases irregularly with depth below 10 inches or remains above 0.2 percent to a depth of 56 inches.
A horizons - Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 5 through 8 dry, 3 through 6 moist; the upper 4 inches may have dry value of less than 6 and moist value of less than 4.
Chroma: 1 or 2, dry or moist.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline.
Salinity (EC): 4 to 32 mmhos/cm.
Cg horizons - Hue: 10YR through 5Y.
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 5 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 1 or 2, dry or moist.
Texture: Silty clay loam, clay, or silty clay.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline to very strongly alkaline.
Salinity (EC): 4 to 32 mmhos/cm.
COMPETING SERIES: There are currently no other series in this family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Abcal soils are on flood plains. They formed in alluvium derived from limestone and shale. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. Elevations range from 5,100 to 5,800 feet. The climate is semiarid and the mean annual precipitation is 8 to 12 inches. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 48 degrees F. The frost-free period is 115 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cache, Ephraim, Kjar, and Woodrow soils. Cache soils have salic horizons. Ephraim and Kjar soils have carbonatic mineralogy. Woodrow soils are fine-silty.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained; very high surface runoff; slow or very slow permeability (low or moderately low saturated hydraulic conductivity). Endosaturation is present with an apparent seasonal high water table between the soil surface and 1 feet year-round or between 0.5 and 1.5 feet between April and September (very shallow or shallow free water occurrence classes). Cumulative annual duration class is Persistent. These soils are susceptible to occasional flooding for very long periods between April and June.
USE AND VEGETATION: Abcal soils are used for hayland and pasture. The present vegetation is wiregrass and sedges with inland saltgrass and black greasewood in saline areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: West-central Utah. These soils are not extensive with about 5,600 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 28A.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sanpete Soil Survey Area, Utah, 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 7 inches (A1 and A2 horizons).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 7 to 60 inches (Cg1, Cg2, and Cg3 horizons).
Aquic conditions - The conditions of endosaturation, reduction, and redoximorphic features between the soil surface and 20 inches at certain times during normal years (parts of the A1, A2, Cg1, and Cg2 horizons).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (Cg2 horizon and parts of the Cg1 and Cg3 horizons).
This revision of April 2006 updates the taxonomic class from Fine, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Fluvaquents based on the recognition of a cambic horizon, the estimated CEC/clay ratio, and the linear extensibility (LE) as populated in the NASIS database.