Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site DX032X01A112
Gravelly (Gr) Big Horn Basin Core
Last updated: 9/05/2019
Accessed: 04/25/2024
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
Figure 1. Mapped extent
Areas shown in blue indicate the maximum mapped extent of this ecological site. Other ecological sites likely occur within the highlighted areas. It is also possible for this ecological site to occur outside of highlighted areas if detailed soil survey has not been completed or recently updated.
MLRA notes
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 032X–Northern Intermountain Desertic Basins
Major land resource area (MLRA):
032X – Northern Intermountain Desertic Basins – This MLRA is comprised of two major Basins, the Big Horn and Wind River. These two basins are distinctly different and are split by LRU’s to allow individual ESD descriptions. These warm basins are surrounded by uplifts and rimmed by mountains, creating a unique set of plant responses and communities. Unique characteristics of the geology and geomorphology single these two basins out.
Further information regarding MLRAs, refer to: United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2006. Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 296. Available electronically at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=nrcs142p2_053624#handbook.
LRU notes
Land Resource Unit (LRU):
32X01 (WY): This LRU is the core of the Big Horn Basin, comprised of the eroded basin floor. As the LRU shifts towards the outer edges, aspect and relation to the major bodies of water and taller landforms create minor shifts in soil chemistry influencing the variety of ecological sites and to plant interactions. The extent of soils currently correlated to this ecological site does not fit within the digitized boundary. Many of the noted soils are provisional and will be reviewed and corrected in mapping update projects. Other map units are correlated as small inclusions within other MLRA’s/LRU’s based on elevation, landform, and biological references.
Moisture Regime: Typic Aridic, prior to 2012, there are map units that cross over to ustic aridic or ustic aridic was correlated into this core area. As progressive mapping continues and when the ability to do update projects, these overlapping map units will be corrected.
Temperature Regime: Mesic
Dominant Cover: Rangeland, with Saltbush flats the dominant vegetative cover for this LRU/ESD.
Representative Value (RV) Effective Precipitation: 5-9 inches (127 – 229 mm)
RV Frost-Free Days: 110-150 days
Classification relationships
Relationship to Other Established Classification Systems:
National Vegetation Classification System (NVC):
3 Xeromorphic Woodland, Scrub & Herb Vegetation Class
3.B Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Subclass
3.B.1 Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland formation
3.B.1.NE Western North American Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Division
M169 Great Basin & Intermountain Tall Sagebrush Shrubland & Steppe Macrogroup
G302 Artemisia Tridentata - Artemisia tripartita - Purshia tridentata Big Sagebrush Steppe Group
CEGL001535 - Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis/Pseudoroegneria spicata Herbaceous Vegetation
Ecoregions (EPA):
Level I: 10 North American Deserts
Level II: 10.1 Cold Deserts
Level III: 10.1.18 Wyoming Basin
Level IV: 10.1.18.g Big Horn Salt Desert Shrub Basin
Ecological site concept
• Site receives no additional water.
• Slope is <50%
• Soils are:
o Textures range from loamy sand to very fine sandy loam in top 4” (10 cm) of mineral soil surface
o Clay content is or = 18% in top 4” (10 cm) of mineral soil surface
o All subsurface horizons in the particle size control section have a weighted average of <18% clay. (The particle size control section is the segment of the profile from either the start of an argillic horizon for 50 cm’s or from 25-100 cm’s).
o Moderately deep to very deep (20-80+ in. (50-200+ cm)
o <3% stone and boulder cover and >35% cobble and gravel cover (generally around 60%)
o Skeletal (≥35% rock fragments) within 20” (50 cm) of mineral soil surface
o Non-saline, sodic, or saline-sodic
Associated sites
| R032XY122WY |
Loamy (Ly) 5-9” Big Horn Basin Precipitation Zone Loamy sites are common on interior to the wind swept edges that have left gravels exposed. |
|---|---|
| R032XY150WY |
Sandy (Sy) 5-9” Big Horn Basin Precipitation Zone, Sandy sites are found lower in the landscape or in depositional areas where the gravel beds have not been exposed. |
| R032XY162WY |
Shallow Loamy (SwLy) 5-9” Big Horn Basin Precipitation Zone Shallow Loamy sites are found with gravelly when the gravelly conglomerate bedrock has not degraded and serves as a restrictive layer with a loamy cap, and surrounding areas are exposed showing a gravelly site. |
| R032XY166WY |
Shallow Sandy (SwSy) 5-9” Big Horn Basin Precipitation Zone Shallow Sandy sites are found on alluvial deposits over sandstone parent material or on conglomerates with a sandstone parent material weathers to expose gravels in areas or sandy pockets in others. |
Similar sites
| R032XY312WY |
Gravelly (Gr) 10-14" East Precipitation Zone Gravelly 10-14” Foothills and Basin East P.Z., 032XY312WY has higher production. |
|---|
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
Not specified |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Pseudoroegneria spicata |
Legacy ID
R032XA112WY
Click on box and path labels to scroll to the respective text.