LOCATION SALISBURY OR+CA IDEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, mesic Palexerollic Durixerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Salisbury loam--on a one percent slope--pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ap--0 to 7 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; about 10 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.6); abrupt smooth boundary.
A--7 to 11 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; neutral (pH 6.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizons is 10 to 16 inches thick)
2Bt1--11 to 16 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) clay, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; moderate medium columnar structure parting to weak coarse blocky; extremely hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; common prominent clay films on ped faces; neutral (pH 6.8); gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 16 inches thick)
2Bt2--16 to 20 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; strong coarse blocky structure; extremely hard, very firm, very sticky and very plastic; common very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films on ped faces; neutral (pH 6.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 10 inches thick)
3Bqm1--20 to 28 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) cemented material, very pale brown (10YR 7/4) dry; indurated by opaline silica with laminar capping 1 to 5 mm thick on the top of this horizon; 25 percent gravel less than 3/4 inch in diameter; neutral (pH 7.2); abrupt smooth boundary.
3Bqm2--28 to 43 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) cemented material, pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) dry; strongly cemented with laminar silica coatings; 25 percent gravel; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bqm horizons is 20 to 50 inches)
4C--43 to 57 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silt loam, pale yellow (5Y 8/2) dry; massive; very hard, very firm, slightly sticky and nonplastic; neutral (pH 7.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Lake County, Oregon; about 1,000 feet west and 2,500 feet south of the northeast corner of section 18, T. 41 S., R. 19 E.; USGS Fitzwater Point 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; 42 degrees 0 minutes 43 seconds north latitude and 120 degrees 30 minutes 57 seconds west longitude, NAD27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 51 degrees F. The soils are usually moist but are dry in all parts between depths of 4 and 12 inches for 60 to 115 days following the summer solstice; Xeric moisture regime that borders on aridic.
Depth to an indurated duripan is 20 to 40 inches. Cobbles and stones are common on the surface and on the breaks to dissected drainages. Depth to bedrock is over 60 inches. There is an absolute increase in clay between the A and 2Bt horizons of 15 percent or more.
The A horizon has value of 2 or 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry, and chroma of 1 through 3 moist and dry. It is slightly acid or neutral. It has 15 to 35 percent clay. It has 0 to 35 percent gravel and 0 to 35 percent cobbles and stones.
The 2Bt horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 2 through 4 moist, 4 through 6 dry, and chroma of 2 through 4 moist and dry. It is typically clay or silty clay in the upper part and silty clay loam or clay loam in the lower part. It has 35 to 55 percent clay. This horizon has moderate or strong prismatic, or columnar structure in the upper part and ranges to blocky in the lower part. In some pedons there is a thin horizon of secondary lime immediately above the duripan. It is neutral to moderately alkaline. It has 0 to 30 percent gravel and 0 to 5 percent cobbles and stones.
The 3Bqm is indurated in the upper part and is strongly cemented or indurated below. It ranges from about 2 to 5 feet thick.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Hibbard, Notchcorral (T), and Oxbow series.
Hibbard and Oxbow soils have carbonates in the lower part of the argillic horizon and throughout the duripan. Notchcorral soils have lithic contacts at depths of 40 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Salisbury soils are on dissected terraces with slopes typically of 0 to 10 percent but range up to 45 percent on escarpments. Elevations range from 2,500 to 5,400 feet. The soils formed in mixed material weathered from metamorphic sediments, rhyolite, tuff, and basalt. The climate is semiarid with a mean annual precipitation of 12 to 20 inches, a mean annual temperature of 45 to 49 degrees F., a mean July temperature of 66 to 70 degrees F., and a mean January temperature of 24 to 28 degrees F. The frost-free period is 70 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Drews, Deter, Drewsgap, Lasere, and Oxwall soils. The Drews, Deter, And Lasere soils lack a duripan. Drews and Deter soils are on lower terraces. Lasere soils have bedrock at 20 to 40 inches. Drewsgap soils are fine-loamy, Oxwall soils are shallow to the duripan and are mapped in complex with the Salisbury series.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Irrigated and dryland crops, rangeland, and homesites. Dry land grain was the major use but some of the cropland has been seeded to permanent pasture. The vegetation is Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg's bluegrass, low sagebrush, big sagebrush, and squaw-apple.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central Oregon, southwestern Idaho, and northeastern California. These soils are moderately extensive. MLRA 21.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Reno, Nevada.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Baker Area, Baker County, Oregon, 1942.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 11 inches (Ap and A horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 11 to 20 inches (2Bt1 and 2Bt2 horizons).
Palexerollic subgroup feature - The abrupt clay increase of 34 percent at 11 inches (between the A and 2Bt1 horizons).
Duripan - The zone from 20 to 43 inches (3Bqm1 and 3Bqm2 horizons).
ADDITIONAL DATA: The typical pedon at the series type location has full characterization data by the Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL), Lincoln, NE, as soil survey sample number S79OR-037-003 (pedon # 79P0427).