LOCATION STUKEL OR+CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haploxerolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Stukel loam, rangeland. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak thin platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 6.9); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 12 inches thick)
C--7 to 17 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam, brown (10YR 5/3) dry; weak thick platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
R--17 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) tuffaceous bedrock, light brownish gray (2.5YR 6/2) dry; continuous dark brown (10YR 3/3) coatings on surface of bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Klamath County, Oregon; about 1 mile north of the town of Dairy; 2,000 feet south and 600 feet west of the northeast corner section 27, T. 38 S., R. 11-1/2 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is 48 to 57 degrees F. The soils are usually dry and are dry in all parts between a depth of 8 inches and the lithic contact more than 100 days within the four-month period following the summer solstice and are moist in the winter. Depth to bedrock is 10 to 20 inches. It has 5 to 20 percent rock fragments. The solum has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR. The mollic epipedon is 7 to 12 inches thick. It has 5 to 18 percent clay and 40 to 75 percent sand. Base saturation is 80 to 100 percent.
The A horizon has value of 4 or 5 dry and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. It is neutral or slightly alkaline.
The C horizon has value of 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry. It is loam, sandy loam, gravelly loam or gravelly sandy loam. It is neutral or slightly alkaline.
Some pedons have a cambic B horizon that is slightly or noneffervescent and may contain up to 10 percent durinodes.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Godde, Iron Mountain, Kuhl, Ladycomb, Soaplake, and Yakus series. Godde soils are moderately acid to neutral and have a mean annual soil temperature of 57 degrees F. Iron Mountain, Kuhl, and Yakus soils have xeric moisture regime. Soaplake soils have a cambic horizon. Ladycomb soils are 4 to 10 inches to bedrock.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Stukel soils are on hills, lava plains, and on rock benches. Elevations are 2,500 to 4,700 feet. Elevations below 4,000 feet are in Idaho. Slopes are 0 to 40 percent. The soils formed in residual material weathered from tuff, diatomite and other volcanic rocks mixed with ash. The climate is semiarid with warm dry summers and cold moist winters. The mean annual precipitation is 8 to 14 inches. The mean January temperature is 28 degrees F.; the mean July temperature is 67 degrees F.; and the mean annual temperature is 46 to 55 degrees F. The frost-free period is 70 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Deschutes, Calimus, Capona, and Lorella soils. Calimus soils are underlain by bedrock at depths of more than 60 inches. Deschutes, and Capona soils have bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Lorella soils are on ridge slopes above Stukel soils and have a very gravelly clay Bt horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate to moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used for livestock grazing and irrigated crops. Potential native vegetation is mainly western juniper, big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, and antelope bitterbrush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South-central and Central, Oregon, and northern California; MLRA 10, pumice zone and 21. The soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Portland, Oregon
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Klamath County, Oregon, 1943.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features:
-Aridic soil moisture regime
-Mollic epipedon- the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A horizon)
-Vitritorrandic- the soil is possibly Vitritorrandic but andic soil properties analysis are needed for confirmation