LOCATION CIENEBA CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic, shallow Typic Xerorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Cieneba gravelly loam, chaparral cover. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
O1--1/2 inch to 0; intermittent, partially decomposed leaf and twig litter; grayish brown; loose and fluffy; abrupt smooth boundary.
A--0 to 10 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and medium roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; medium acid; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
Cr--10 to 30 inches; reddish yellow and brown, strongly weathered, acid granitic material with relic rock structure; some loam material formed in place in cracks and cleavage planes; larger roots penetrate along joints.
TYPE LOCATION: San Benito County, California; on the south side of Fremont Peak Road, 9 miles south of San Joan Bautista; SE side of section 25, T.13 S., R.4 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to a paralithic contact is 4 to 20 inches. Soil below a depth of about 4 to 6 inches usually is moist all of the time after November until sometime in May. It is dry all the rest of the time. The mean annual soil temperature just above the weathered rock is 59 degrees to 65 degrees F. Fragments larger than 2 mm make up 0 to 35 percent of the soil. The soil is neutral to strongly acid, though moist pedons are slightly or medium acid. It is coarse sandy loam, gravelly sandy loam, light loam or gravelly light loam and has less than 18 percent clay throughout the profile. The amount of coarse and very coarse sand is 15 to 25 percent. Organic matter content is less than 1 percent below a depth of about 1 inch to about 4 inches.
The A horizon is dark grayish brown to light brown (10YR 4/2, 4/3, 5/2, 5/3, 6/2, 6/3; 7.5YR 5/2, 6/4). Dry values of 4 or 5 extend to a depth of 1 to 5 inches in protected pedons that have not been burned and eroded.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Gillender and Trigo series in this family and the La Posta, Maymen, Pentz, Tollhouse and Vista series. Gillender soils have less than 15 percent very coarse plus coarse sand and have distinct mottles in the A horizon. La Posta and Tollhouse soils have mollic epipedons and have a mean annual temperature of less than 59 degrees F. Maymen soils have a lithic contact at depths less than 20 inches and a soil temperature of less than 59 degrees F. Pentz soils have an exchange complex dominated by amorphous material and more than 60 percent vitreous material in the sand and silt fraction. Trigo soils have about 3 to 10 percent coarse and very coarse sand. Vista soils are more than 20 inches deep to a paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cieneba soils formed from material weathered from granite and other rocks of similar texture and composition. Gradients are 9 to 85 percent. The soils are at elevations of 500 to 4,000 feet. The climate is dry subhumid mesothermal with warm dry summers and cold moist winters. There is little or no snow. Mean annual precipitation is 12 to 35 inches. Mean annual temperature is 57 degrees to 65 degrees F.; average January temperature is 45 degrees to 50 degrees F.; average July temperature is 68 degrees to 80 degrees F. The freeze-free season is 175 to 300 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ahwahnee, Auberry, Chualar, and Sheridan soils and the competing Vista soils. Ahwahnee and Auberry soils are more than 20 inches deep to a paralithic contact and have argillic horizons. Chualar and Sheridan soils have mollic epipedons and lack a paralithic contact at depths of less than 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; low to medium runoff; moderately rapid permeability in the soil, but much slower in the weathered granite.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for wildlife, recreation, watershed, and incidental grazing. Vegetation is mainly chaparral and chamise with widely spread Digger pine or oak tree. There are small area of thin annual grasses and weeds.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coast Range in central and south-central California and foothills of the Sierra Nevada, MLRAs 15,10 and 22. The soil is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Monterey County, California, 1972.