LOCATION FAIRYDELL NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Xeric Haplocryolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Fairydell gravelly loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 6 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common medium and fine, and many very fine roots; many fine and very fine vesicular pores; 35 percent gravel; noneffervescent except for limestone pebbles; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
B2--6 to 12 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) gravelly loam dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) organic stains; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; common medium and fine, and many very fine roots; common fine, and many very fine tubular pores; 25 percent cobbles and gravel; slightly effervescence except near and beneath limestone gravel and cobble where it is strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 16 inches thick)
B3sica--12 to 23 inches; variegated brown (10YR 5/3) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; few fine, and common very fine roots; common fine and many very fine tubular pores; 25 percent cobbles and gravel; silica and lime coats on gravel and cobble, thin on top and moderately thick on the bottom; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
C1sica--23 to 50 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; few fine, and common very fine tubular pores; 60 percent cobbles and gravel; silica and lime coats on gravel and cobbles, thin on top and thick on undersides; many fine distinct white (10YR 8/2) lime masses, violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).
TYPE LOCATION: Eureka County, Nevada; 950 feet south and 2,700 feet west of the NE corner of sec. 2, T.19N., R.54E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 16 to 24 inches. Depth to calcic horizon is 10 to 16 inches. Mean annual soil temperature is 44 degrees to 47 degrees F., and mean summer soil temperature is 56 degrees to 59 degrees F. These soils are usually dry from July to October. The series control section has 20 to 25 percent clay and 40 to 65 percent coarse fragments by volume. The A1 horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is gravelly and very gravelly loam and heavy loam. This horizon has granular or blocky structure. It is neutral to moderately alkaline. The B2 horizon has chroma and moist value of 3 or 4. It is gravelly or very gravelly loam or heavy loam. This horizon is slightly or strongly effervescent. The Clsica horizon has value of 6 or 7 dry and 4 or 6 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. It is very gravelly or cobbly loam and is hard or very hard.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Brickel, Broad Canyon, Foxmount, Greyback, Kamack, Maurice, Sebud, Supervisor and Tiban series. Brickel and Supervisor soils are noncalcareous and have bedrock at depths of less than 4 inches. Broad Canyon soils are medium and strongly acid. Foxmount soils have noncalcareous profiles and have paralithic contacts between 24 and 40 inches. Greyback, Maurice, Sebud and Tiban soils lack horizons of silica accumulation. Kamack soils are noncalcareous.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Fairydell soils are on moderately steep, alluvial fans and pediments at elevations of 6,500 to 8,000 feet. They are on west-facing slopes having slope gradients of 15 to 30 percent. They formed in alluvium from limestone and conglomerates. The climate is cool, semiarid. Mean annual precipitation is 12 to 16 inches and it comes mostly as snow. The mean annual temperature is 44 degrees to 47 degrees F., and the frost-free season is 50 to 80 days.
PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bartine, Cyan and Passar soils. Bartine soils have carbonatic mineralogy and have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Cyan soils have argillic horizons. Passar soils have clayey Bt horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, Great Basin wildrye, Sandberg bluegrass, low sagebrush, and bluebunch wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central Nevada. The series is inextensive, with approximately 9,000 acres mapped.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eureka County (Diamond Valley Area), Nevada, 1971.
REMARKS: Fairydell soils were formerly classified as Brown soils.
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 9/71.