The Soils of Nevada

305 Pages·2021·24.117 MB·English

by  Paul W. Blackburn, John B. Fisher, William E. Dollarhide, Douglas J. Merkler, Joseph V. Chiaretti, James G. Bockheim

World Soils Book Series
Paul W. Blackburn · John B. Fisher · William E. Dollarhide ·
Douglas J. Merkler · Joseph V. Chiaretti ·
James G. Bockheim
The Soils
of Nevada
World Soils Book Series
Series Editor
Alfred E. Hartemink
Department of Soil Science, FD Hole Soils Laboratory
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, WI
USA
The World Soils Book Series publishes peer-reviewed books on the soils of a particular
country. They include sections on soil research history, climate, geology, geomorphology,
major soil types, soil maps, soil properties, soil classification, soil fertility, land use and
vegetation, soil management, soils and humans, soils and industry, future soil issues. The
bookssummarizewhatisknownaboutthesoilsinaparticularcountryinaconciseandhighly
reader-friendly way. The series contains both single and multi-authored books as well as
edited volumes. There is additional scope for regional studies within the series, particularly
when covering large land masses (for example, The Soils of Texas, The Soils of California),
however, these will be assessed on an individual basis.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8915
Paul W. Blackburn (cid:129) John B. Fisher (cid:129)
William E. Dollarhide (cid:129) Douglas J. Merkler (cid:129)
Joseph V. Chiaretti (cid:129) James G. Bockheim
The Soils of Nevada
123
PaulW. Blackburn JohnB. Fisher
USDA NaturalResources USDA NaturalResources
ConservationService (retired) ConservationService (retired)
Elko, NV,USA Reno,NV, USA
William E. Dollarhide Douglas J.Merkler
USDA NaturalResources USDA NaturalResources
ConservationService (retired) ConservationService (retired)
Reno,NV, USA BoulderCity, NV,USA
JosephV.Chiaretti James G.Bockheim
USDA NaturalResources Department ofSoil Science,
ConservationService (retired) University of Wisconsin (retired)
Reno,NV, USA Madison,WI, USA
ISSN 2211-1255 ISSN 2211-1263 (electronic)
World Soils BookSeries
ISBN978-3-030-53156-0 ISBN978-3-030-53157-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53157-7
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This book is dedicated to the professional Soil Scientists of the US Department
of Agriculture; Natural Resources Conservation Service and US Forest
Service and US Department of Interior; Bureau of Land Management that
mapped soils in Nevada. We would like to recognize the Range
Conservationists from these agencies that worked with the Soil Scientists
during the mapping of most of Nevada. We would like to acknowledge the
support of management from these agencies and other land management
agencies that contributed to soil surveys. We would also like to acknowledge
the support from the University of Nevada-Reno and the University of
Nevada-Las Vegas personal. This book could not have been written without
the support of NRCS database managers and data manipulators.
The NRCS served as the lead agency in mapping the soils in Nevada. This
organization began in 1899 as the Division of Soils, became the Bureau of
Soils in 1901, the Soil Conservation Service in 1935, and the Natural
Resources Conservation Service in 1994.
The report that follows draws primarily on information gathered from the 16
counties of Nevada that were mapped primarily by NRCS personnel,
significant area was mapped by BLM Soil Scientists, and smaller areas by the
USFS and private contractors.
We thank James Komer, Nevada state Soil Scientist, and his staff for their
support of this project. With assistance from Erin Hourihan, Matt Cole
produced the general soil map of Nevada.
Preface
In that 84% of the land in Nevada is federally owned, this book is intended for use by
employees of the Bureaus of Indian Affairs, Land Management, and Reclamation; the
DepartmentsofDefenseandEnergy;andtheUSForest,NaturalResourcesConservation,Fish
andWildlife,andNationalParksServices.ThebookwillalsoservestateagenciesinNevada,
including the Department of Agriculture; Nevada Wildlife Service; Commissions on Range-
landResources,EconomicDevelopment,andMineralResources;DepartmentofTourismand
Cultural Affairs; and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The book could be
usedinnaturalresourcecoursesattheDesertResearchInstitute,CollegeofSouthernNevada,
theUniversityofNevada-LasVegas,theUniversityofNevada-Reno,theGreatBasinCollege,
and Truckee Meadows Community College, as well as universities and colleges in the adja-
centstatesofOregon,California,Idaho,Utah,andArizona.Thebookmayalsobeofinterest
topersonsinterestedinthegeographyofsoils,particularlyintheWesternRangeandIrrigated
land Resource Region.
Elko, USA Paul W. Blackburn
Reno, USA John B. Fisher
Reno, USA William E. Dollarhide
Boulder City, USA Douglas J. Merkler
Reno, USA Joseph V. Chiaretti
Madison, USA James G. Bockheim
vii
Contents
1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Definition of Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Nevada History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Major Soil Regions of Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Classification of Nevada Soils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 History of Soil Studies in Nevada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Soil Surveys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Soil Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 The State Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Soil-Forming Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1 Current Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.2 Past Climates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3 Vegetation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4 Relief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.5 Geologic Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.6 Surficial Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.7 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.8 Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 General Soil Regions of Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Soils of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (MLRA 22A). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3 Soils of the Malheur High Plateau (MLRA 23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4 Soils of the Humboldt Area (MLRA 24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.5 Soils of the Owyhee High Plateau (MLRA 25) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.6 Soils of the Carson Basin and Mountains (MLRA 26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.7 Soils of the Fallon-Lovelock Area (MLRA 27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.8 Soils of the Great Salt Lake Area (MLRA 28A). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.9 Soils of the Central Nevada Basin and Range (MLRA 28B). . . . . . . . . . 43
4.10 Soils of the Southern Nevada Basin and Range (MLRA 29). . . . . . . . . . 45
ix
x Contents
4.11 Soils of the Mojave Desert (MLRA 30). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.12 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5 Soil Geomorphology of Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.2 Fan and Remnant Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.3 Soil Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.4 MLRA 22A—Sierra Nevada Mountains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.5 MLRA 23—Malheur High Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.6 MLRA 24—Humboldt Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.7 MLRA 25—Owyhee High Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.8 MLRA 26—Carson Basin and Mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.9 MLRA 27—Fallon-Lovelock Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.10 MLRA 28A—Great Salt Lake Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.11 MLRA 28B—Central Nevada Basin and Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.12 MLRA 29—Southern Nevada Basin and Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.13 MLRA 30—Mojave Desert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.14 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6 Diagnostic Horizons and Taxonomic Structure of Nevada Soils. . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.2 Diagnostic Horizons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.3 Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.4 Suborders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.5 Great Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.6 Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.7 Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.8 Soil Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.9 Depth and Drainage Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.10 Comparison of Nevada Soil Taxonomic Structure with Other States . . . . 67
6.11 Key to Classifying Nevada Soils to the Great-Group Level. . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.12 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7 Taxonomic Soil Regions of Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.2 Torriorthents (Great Group Associations 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, and 15). . . . 75
7.3 Haplargids (Great Group Associations 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, and 18) . . . 78
7.4 Argixerolls (Great Group Associations 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17,
and 18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.5 Haplocalcids (Great Group Associations 8, 9, and 15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.6 Haplocambids (Great Group Associations 10 and 14). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7.7 Haplodurids (Great Group Associations 8, 10, and 17) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.8 Argidurids (Great Group Associations 3, 17, and 18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.9 Natrargids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.10 Petrocalcids (Great Group Association 5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.11 Torripsamments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.12 Haploxerolls (Great Group Association 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.13 Durixerolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.14 Halaquepts (Great Group Associations 2 and 14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.15 Endoaquolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.16 Calcixerolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Contents xi
7.17 Natridurids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.18 Torrifluvents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.19 Haplocryolls (Great Group Associations 4 and 12). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.20 Argicryolls (Great Group Association 12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7.21 Argiustolls (Great Group Association 11). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.22 Calciargids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.23 Calcicryolls (Great Group Association 4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.24 Cryrendolls (Great Group Association 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.25 Haploxeralfs (Great Group Association 16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.26 Xeropsamments (Great Group Association 16). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.27 Other Great Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.28 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8 Aridisols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8.1 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8.2 Properties and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8.3 Use and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
8.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
9 Mollisols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.1 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.2 Properties and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.3 Use and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
9.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10 Entisols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10.1 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10.2 Properties and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.3 Use and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
11 Inceptisols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.1 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.2 Properties and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.3 Use and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12 Alfisols, Vertisols, and Andisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.1 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.1.1 Alfisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.1.2 Vertisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.1.3 Andisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
12.2 Properties and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.2.1 Alfisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.2.2 Vertisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.2.3 Andisols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
12.3 Use and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
12.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
13 Soil-Forming Processes in Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
13.2 Argilluviation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
13.3 Melanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133