LOCATION PINTWATER NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Lithic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Pintwater gravelly fine sandy loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 3 cm; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 20 percent pebbles; strongly effervescent; contains considerable mica, sanidine, and clear quartz crystals; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 5 cm thick)
A2--3 to 10 cm; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak coarse platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and very fine roots; many fine and medium vesicular pores; 20 percent pebbles; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.7); clear smooth boundary. (8 to 18 cm thick)
Bqk--10 to 50 cm; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) very stony fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and very fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 15 percent stones, 15 percent cobbles, and 15 percent pebbles; violently effervescent with few to common fine flecks of segregated secondary calcium carbonate and secondary silica with secondary calcium carbonate pendants on bottom of rock fragments; strongly alkaline (pH 8.5); clear wavy boundary. (13 to 43 cm thick)
R--50 cm; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) fractured ignimbrite, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; secondary silica and calcium carbonate coats in fractures and on the bottom of each loose rock fragment, often as pendants.
TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, Nevada; on northern portion of ridge east of Highway 93, about 1/2 mile south of Upper Pahranagat Lake outlet; about 800 feet east and 2,300 feet north of the southwest corner of Section 2, T. 8 S, R. 61 E., USGS Alamo SE 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 16 minutes 49 seconds N and longitude 115 degrees 7 minutes 0 seconds W; NAD 83.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, moist in some part for short periods during winter and early spring months and for 10 to 20 days cumulative between July and October due to convection storms. Aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 14 degrees C.
Depth to bedrock: 25 to 50 cm.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.
Particle-size control section - Clay content: 10 to 18 percent.
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent.
A horizons
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist.
Effervescence: Slightly effervescent to strongly effervescent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 15 percent in the material less than 2 mm.
Bqk horizon
Value: 6 through 8 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Fine sandy loam or sandy loam.
Rock fragments: 45 to 70 percent, includes stones, cobbles, and pebbles.
Consistence: Nonsticky to slightly sticky and nonplastic to slightly plastic, wet.
Secondary calcium carbonate accumulation: Occurs as pendants or coatings on rock fragments or as masses and filaments. Less than 5 percent by volume.
Effervescence: Strongly effervescent or violently effervescent.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 10 to 20 percent in the material less than 2 mm.
Other features: Accessory silica pendants or coatings are in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Berzatic, Blacktop, Cadrina, Singatse, Sojur, and Tsaya soils.
Berzatic soils contain is 15 to 35 percent calcium carbonate. Blacktop and Singatse soils have bedrock within 25 cm. Cadrina soils have 18 to 27 percent clay in the particle-size control section and have a mean annual soil temperature of 8 to 10 degrees C. Sojur soils are less than 25 cm to bedrock. Tsaya soils contain 18 to 35 percent clay.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pintwater soils are on mountain backslopes, rock pediments and hills. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium from welded tuff, basalt, tuffaceous rhyolitic, and related rocks. Slopes are 0 to 75 percent. Elevations are 1,220 to 2,134 meters. The mean annual precipitation is 125 to 200 mm; the mean annual temperature is 10 to 12 degrees C., and the frost-free season is 100 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Crystal Springs and Theriot soils. Crystal Springs soils have a petrocalcic horizon. Theriot soils have more than 40 percent calcium carbonate equivalent in their control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to very high runoff; moderately rapid permeability; high saturated hydraulic conductivity.
USE AND VEGETATION: Pintwater soils are used for livestock grzing and wildlife habitat. The soil supports a sparse, stunted growth of shadscale, Nevada ephedra, galleta and annual fescue.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Nevada. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 29.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nye County (Big Smokey Valley Area), Nevada, 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 18 cm (A1, A2 and part of Bqk horizons).
Lithic contact - The boundary at 50 cm (R layer)
Particle-size control section - The zone from 25 to 50 cm (Bqk horizon).