LOCATION QUINCY WA+CA ID OREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, mesic Xeric Torripsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Quincy fine sand-grassland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 15 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; single grain; loose; many fine roots; porous; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 20 inches thick)
C--15 to 60 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sand, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; single grain; loose; common fine and very fine roots; porous; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Adams County, Washington; 10 feet north and 2,l110 feet east of the southwest corner section 28, T. 15 N., R. 29 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 50 to 57 degrees F, and the mean summer temperature is 66 to 78 degrees F. These soils are moist in the winter and spring but are dry more than one half of the time the soil temperature exceeds 40 degrees F., about 105 to 130 consecutive days. These soils are dry in all parts between depths of 7 and 20 inches. Hue is 10YR or 2.5Y. Value is 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist and chroma is 1 to 4 moist or dry. Organic matter in the surface horizon when mixed is less than 1 percent. The 10 to 40 inch particle-size control section ranges from sand to loamy fine sand. Less than 75 percent of the sand is very coarse, coarse, and medium if the clay content is less than 5 percent. If the clay content exceeds 5 percent, more than 75 percent of the sand fraction can be in the very coarse, coarse and medium size classes. The upper 15 inches of these soils is free of lime, except for small particles brought up by insects and animals. The matrix below 15 inches is noncalcareous in some pedons. Reaction in the upper 20 inches is slightly acid to moderately alkaline, and below 20 inches it is neutral to moderately alkaline. Some pedons have unconforming materials, including coarse sand, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, silt loam, very gravelly sand, very gravelly loamy fine sand, at depths below 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Berent, Fernley, Goldrun, Hotsprings, Incy, Lachim (T), Painter (T), Quinton, Rinquin, Toll, Walco, Winchester, and Zorravista series. Berent soils contain rock fragments that increase in volume with increasing. Fernley soils have redoximorphic features at a depth of 20 to 36 inches. Painter soils have a lithic contact at a depth of 24 to 40 inches and a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 30 inches. Quinton and Walco soils have a lithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Goldrun soils are dry for more than 130 consecutive days. Hotsprings soils are gravelly loamy coarse sand or gravelly loamy sand with 20 to 35 percent pebbles in the particle-size control section. Incy soils are neutral and noncalcareous to a depth of more than 60 inches and formed in sand dominantly from granite. Lachim and Rinquin soils have a paralithic contact at a depth of 20 to 40 inches. Toll soils are slightly acid or neutral, and are noncalcareous to more than 60 inches. Winchester soils have more than 75 percent of the sand fraction in the very coarse, coarse, and medium size classes and have less than 5 percent clay. Zorravista soils are calcareous in the surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Quincy soils are on uplands, fan piedmonts and terraces, some having a ridged, hummocky, or dune microrelief. Slopes range from 0 to 65 percent. Many of the low rounded ridges are narrow and long. These soils formed in sands from mixed sources, but contains significant amounts of dark colored basaltic sand. Elevations are 200 to 2,800 feet in Washington and north-central Oregon, and 2,500 to 4,500 feet elsewhere. The climate is arid or semiarid and summers are dry. The mean annual precipitation is 6 to 12 inches. The mean annual air temperature is 47 to 53 degrees F. The frost-free season is 130 to 200 days in Washington and north-central Oregon, and 100 to 150 days elsewhere.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Quinton soils and the Burbank, Cencove, Esquatzel, Feltham, Hezel, Taunton, and Warden soils. Burbank soils are sandy-skeletal and are on terraces and terrace escarpments. Cencove soils are coarse-loamy in the upper part and are on alluvial fans and terraces. Esquatzel and Warden soils are coarse-silty. Esquatzel soils are on bottomlands. Warden soils are on terraces and terrace escarpments. Feltham soils are finer than sandy in some part and are on terraces and alluvial fans. Hezel soils are sandy over loamy and are on dissected terraces and terrace escarpments. Taunton soils have a duripan, are coarse-loamy and are on terraces, basalt plains, and fan terraces. Quinton soils are on hillslopes, benches, and terraces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; very slow to moderate runoff; very rapid or rapid permeability. Substratum phases range from moderate to slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing and irrigated cropland. Irrigated areas are in potatoes, hay, pasture, small grains, grapes, and tree fruits. The natural vegetation is needleandthread, thickspike wheatgrass, Indian ricegrass, rabbitbrush, horsebrush, fourwing saltbush, Antelope bitterbrush, and big sagebrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Washington MLRA 7, Oregon MLRA 7 and 11, Idaho MLRA 11, and California. The soil is extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Grant County, Washington, 1911.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons or features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon
Particle-size control section - from 10 to 40 inches that is sandy throughout
Those pedons with bedrock or duripans between 40 and 60 inches previously included within the Quincy series concept, will no longer be considered with the series concept
Aridic soil moisture regime bordering xeric
ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory Data, Riverside, California S61 Wash. 11-1, S61 Wash. 11-2.