LOCATION MAYMEN CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, mesic Lithic Dystroxerepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Maymen sandy loam - chaparral. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--1 inch to 0; undecomposed leaves (1/2 to 2 1/2 inches thick)
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) sandy loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and very fine roots; many fine and very fine pores; 6 percent angular and subangular rock fragments 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
Bt-3 to 15 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; many fine and very fine pores; about 6 percent angular and subangular rock fragments 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter; few thin discontinuous clay films in pores; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 14 inches thick)
R--15 to 60 inches; light yellowish brown 10YR 6/4) and pale brown (10YR 6/3) fractured sandstone; very hard, becoming harder and less fractured with increasing depth; few roots to depth of 60 inches in cracks more than 4 inches apart.
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Clara County, California; Loma Chiquita, 1 1/4 miles southeast of Loma Prieta.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is 10 to 20 inches. The mean annual soil temperature is 47 degrees to 59 degrees F. The soil between a depth of 6 inches and the lithic contact is dry in all parts from mid-May or June through September or early October and is moist in all parts from November through May. Reaction is slightly acid through very strongly acid and tends to become more acid with increasing depth. Rock fragments make up 3 to 35 percent of the soil. The epipedon is either too thin or has too little organic matter, or both, to qualify as a mollic epipedon. Clay content is 10 to 27 percent.
The A horizon has dry color of 10YR 4/2, 5/2, 5/3, 6/2, 3/3, 4/3, 5/3, 6/3, 5/4, 6/4, 5/6, 6/6; 7.5YR 7/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 5/6, 6/6, or 5/8. Moist color is 10YR 2/2, 3/3, 3/2, 3/4, 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/2 5/3, 5/4 or 7.5YR 5/2, 3/2, 3/4, 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/4, 4/6, 5/6, or 5/8. This horizon is sandy loam, loam, silt loam or their gravelly or stony equivalents, as well as stony sandy clay loam or fine sandy loam.
The Bt horizon has dry color of 10YR 4/2, 5/2, 6/2, 3/3, 4/4, 4/3, 5/3, 6/3, 5/4, 6/4, 5/6, 6/6; 7.5YR 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 5/6, 6/6, 7/4 or 5/8. Moist color is 10YR 3/3, 4/3, 4/4, 5/3, 5/4, 5/5, or 7.5YR 5/2, 4/3, 4/4, 5/4, 4/6, 5/6. This horizon has weak or moderate granular or subangular blocky structure. Some pedons have a slight increase in clay over the A horizon but not enough to qualify as an argillic horizon. Texture is sandy loam, silt loam or loam and their gravelly equivalents and gravelly sandy clay loam or fine sandy loam.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Dicecreek (T OR) series. Dicecreek soils are dry for 45 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Maymen soils are on mountains and have slopes of 5 to 100 percent. They are at elevations of 400 to 4,250 feet. Underlying bedrock is consolidated sandstone, shale, or conglomerate. The climate is moist subhumid with warm, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Mean annual precipitation is 22 to 70 inches. Average January temperature is 47 degrees F, average July temperature is about 68 degrees F, and mean annual temperature is about 52 to 59 degrees F. Frost-free period is 130 to 330 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Jocal, Laughlin, Los Gatos, Mariposa, Sheetiron, and Gaviota soils. Jocal, Laughlin, Los Gatos, and Sheetiron soils are more than 20 inches deep to rock. Mariposa soils have an argillic horizon in a part of each pedon. Gaviota soils are thermic.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; high to very high runoff; moderate to moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for watershed, wildlife habitat and recreation. Vegetation is usually open stands of chaparral consisting of chamise, manzanita, several species of ceanothus, several species of scrub or dwarf oak, and scattered small trees in protected sites.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coast Ranges and western slopes of the Sierra Nevada of California. The soils are extensive. MLRA 5, 15, 20, 22.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Santa Barbara County, California, 1945.
REMARKS: During MLRA update those map units in 20 and 22 need to separated from Maymen mapped in 5 and 15. Need new series.
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL pedon S90CA-109-104