LOCATION MCNYE OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, mesic Xeric Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: McNye cobbly loam--on a lake terrace sloping 8 percent to the west-northwest at about 4,580 feet elevation--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 7 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) cobbly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate thick platy structure parting to moderate medium platy; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; many fine irregular and tubular pores; 5 percent stones, 15 percent cobbles, and 10 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Bk--7 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and few medium roots; common fine irregular pores; 10 percent stones, 10 percent cobbles and 35 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; carbonates are disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
BC--16 to 27 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) extremely cobbly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and few medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; 20 percent stones, 35 percent cobbles, and 25 percent gravel; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
C--27 to 42 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) extremely gravelly loamy sand, brown (10YR 4/3); single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and medium roots; many fine interstitial pores; 5 percent cobbles and 75 percent gravel; slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
2R--42 inches; fractured basalt.
TYPE LOCATION: Lake County, Oregon; southeast of Warner Valley about 0.25 miles east of Soda Lake and 0.5 miles west of Twenty Mile Slough; adjacent to the jeep trail in the NW1/4 of the SE1/4 of section 1, T. 40 S., R. 24 E.; USGS Calderwood Reservoir 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; approximately 42 degrees 07 minutes 34 seconds north latitude and 119 degrees 50 minutes 15 seconds west longitude, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Usually moist in the winter and spring, dry throughout the profile from about mid-June through October; Aridic moisture regime that borders on xeric.
Mean annual soil temperature - 49 to 51 degrees F.
Depth to disseminated carbonates - 5 to 15 inches.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 10 to 25 inches.
Depth to bedrock - 40 to 60 inches to a lithic contact.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: Averages 1 to 10 percent; Rock fragments: Averages 50 to 85 percent, mainly cobbles and gravel. Lithology of fragments is basalt.
A horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Bk horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Clay content: 5 to 10 percent.
Rock fragments: 45 to 60 percent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 or 2 percent.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
BC horizon (when present) and C horizon - Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Coarsely stratified extremely cobbly loamy sand to extremely gravelly loamy sand.
Clay content: 0 to 5 percent.
Rock fragments: 60 to 85 percent.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Broncho, Malaga, McConnel, McWatt, and Ragnel (T) series.
Broncho, Malaga, McConnel, and Ragnel soils are very deep. McWatt soils have identifiable secondary carbonates at depths of 17 to 29 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: McNye soils are on bedrock-controlled lake terraces in Pleistocene lake basins. These soils formed in reworked alluvium and colluvium derived from basalt. Slopes are 2 to 50 percent. Elevations range from 4,500 to 6,200 feet. The climate is semiarid and characterized by cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 8 to 10 inches, the mean annual temperature is 47 to 50 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 80 to 110 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Wildhill soil. Wildhill soils are loamy-skeletal, moderately deep to lithic contacts, and have argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat excessively drained; low or medium surface runoff; moderately rapid permeability in the upper part over very rapid permeability in the lower part.
USE AND VEGETATION: McNye soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The potential native vegetation is Wyoming big sagebrush, Indian ricegrass, and Thurber's needlegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Oregon. These soils are not extensive with about 4,200 acres of the series mapped to date. MLRA 23.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lake County (Southern Part), Oregon, 1991.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 7 inches (A horizon).
Cambic horizon - The zone from 7 to 16 inches (Bk horizon).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 42 inches to underlying unweathered bedrock (2R layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (BC horizon and parts of the Bk and C horizons).