LOCATION KZIN NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic, shallow Xeric Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Kzin very gravelly loam, woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered with 75 percent pebbles and 2 percent with stones.
A--0 to 3 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine roots; common very fine interstitial pores; 35 percent pebbles, 2 percent cobbles, 2 percent stones, thin lime coats on rock fragments; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bk--3 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine, common fine and few medium roots; common very fine and few fine interstitial pores; 45 percent pebbles, 5 percent cobbles; thin lime coats on rock fragments; common thin lime pendants on undersides of rock fragments; violently effervescent, strongly alkaline (pH 8.5), clear wavy boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
Cr--8 to 20 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) soft fractured pudding stone with approximately 30 percent pebbles of less than 1 inch in diameter in the matrix, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; rock structure; few very fine, fine medium and coarse roots in fractures; thin lime coats along fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Elko County, Nevada; approximately 8 1/2 miles southeast of Montello, about 1,500 feet south and 2,815 feet west of the northeast corner, sec. 4, T. 38 N., and R. 70 E.; 41 degrees, 12 minutes, 32 seconds north latitude and 114 degrees, 7 minutes, 6 seconds east longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually dry, moist in winter and spring, dry mid-June through late October.
Soil temperature - 47 to 52 degrees F.
Depth to paralithic contact - 4 to 12 inches.
Control section - Clay content: 15 to 25 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 50 percent, mainly pebbles.
Profile reaction - Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Calcium carbonate equivalent - 15 to 30 percent.
Other features - Eroded phases are recognized.
A horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Bk horizon - Value: 5 through 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3.
Structure: Subangular blocky or is massive.
Texture: Very gravelly loam, very gravelly sandy loam.
Consistence: Slightly sticky or nonsticky and nonplastic or slightly plastic wet.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Calpeek (NV), Kaffur (NV) and Weepah (NV) series. The Calpeek and Kaffur soils have 5 percent or less calcium carbonate equivalent and lack Bk horizons. Weepah soils have values that reflects lithochromic colors and A horizons that lack segregated lime on rock fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kzin soils are on sideslopes and crests of hills, rock pediment remnants, fan piedmont remnants with a rock core, and the lower parts of mountains. These soils formed in residuum weathered from calcareous plastic sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks. Slopes are 8 to 50 percent. Elevations are 5,300 to 7,600 feet. The climate is cool, semiarid with warm, dry summers and cool, most winters. The mean annual precipitation is 10 to 14 inches; mean annual temperature is 44 to 48 degrees F, and the frost-free season is 80 to 100 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Izar, Hopeka and Nirac soils. Izar and Hopeka are shallow to a lithic contact. Nirac soils have a mollic epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very rapid runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly Utah juniper and pinyon pine with a understory of black sagebrush, Indian ricegrass and bluebunch wheatgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeastern Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 25, 28A, 28B.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Elko County, Nevada, northeast part, 1986.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the soil surface to 3 inches (A horizon).
Paralithic contact - the boundary at 8 inches.
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 8 inches (A, Bk horizons).
The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.