United States Department of Agriculture Supplement to the Natural Soil Survey of Resources Conservation Service Santa Clara Area, California, Western Part National Cooperative Soil Survey This document was made for the National Cooperative Soil Survey by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, in cooperation with the Regents of the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Agricultural Experiment Station); the Guadalupe-Coyote Resource Conservation District; the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District; the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department; the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority; and Stanford University. This supplement accompanies the most current official data for the soil survey of the Santa Clara Area, California, Western Part, available at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/. Acknowledgement is also given to the many cities and towns within the survey area who granted permission for the soil survey to be conducted on their public lands. These include Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, San Jose, Saratoga, and Sunnyvale. This document is part of the technical assistance furnished by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Hollister, California Office to the Guadalupe-Coyote Resource Conservation District. Literature Citation The correct citation for this survey is as follows: United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2015. Supplement to the Soil Survey of the Santa Clara Area, California, Western Part. (Accessible online at: http://soils.usda.gov/survey/printed_surveys/) Cover Caption View looking southeast across the cities of the Santa Clara Valley to the Diablo Ranges and Santa Cruz Mountains. Photo courtesy NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. Photo circa 1995. Additional information about the Nation’s natural resources is available online from the Natural Resources Conservation Service at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/. i Nondiscrimination Statement The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, whether all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information. The Department prohibits discrimination in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.) If you wish to file an employment complaint, you must contact your agency’s EEO Counselor (http://directives.sc.egov.usda.gov/33081.wba) within 45 days of the date of the alleged discriminatory act, event, or personnel action. Additional information can be found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_file.html. If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, found online at http://www.ascr.usda. gov/complaint_filing_cust.html or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter by email to program.intake@usda. gov or by mail to: USDA Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 If you are deaf, are hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities and you wish to file either an EEO or program complaint, please contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339 or (800) 845-6136 (in Spanish). If you have other disabilities and wish to file a program complaint, please see the contact information above. If you require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.), please contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). ii Contents Preface......................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ...................................................................................................................1 General Nature of the Survey Area ............................................................................1 Physiography, Relief, and Drainage .......................................................................1 Major Land Resource Areas ..................................................................................5 History and Development ......................................................................................6 Climate .................................................................................................................10 Table 1.—Temperature and Precipitation...........................................................12 Table 2.—Freeze Dates in Spring and Fall ........................................................13 Table 3.—Growing Season ................................................................................13 Urban Use of Soils ...................................................................................................14 How This Survey Was Made ....................................................................................15 Classification of the Soils ..........................................................................................17 Soil Series and Their Morphology ............................................................................18 Airship Series ...........................................................................................................18 Alo Series .................................................................................................................21 Altamont Series ........................................................................................................24 Alumrock Series .......................................................................................................26 Aptos Series .............................................................................................................29 Aquic Xerorthents, Bay Mud Substratum .................................................................32 Argixerolls ................................................................................................................34 Bayshore Taxadjunct ................................................................................................35 Ben Lomond Series ..................................................................................................37 Bonnydoon Series ....................................................................................................40 Botella Series ...........................................................................................................41 Campbell Series .......................................................................................................43 Caninecreek Series ..................................................................................................46 Casrock Series .........................................................................................................49 Catelli Series ............................................................................................................52 Clear Lake Series .....................................................................................................53 Climara Series ..........................................................................................................55 Cropley Series ..........................................................................................................57 Cumulic Haloxerolls .................................................................................................60 Diablo Series ............................................................................................................63 Elder Series .............................................................................................................64 Elkhorn Series ..........................................................................................................67 Elpaloalto Series ......................................................................................................69 Elsman Series ..........................................................................................................71 Embarcadero Series ................................................................................................75 Felton Series ............................................................................................................78 Flaskan Series .........................................................................................................82 Footpath Series ........................................................................................................85 Gaviota Series ..........................................................................................................87 Gilroy Series .............................................................................................................88 iii Hangerone Series ....................................................................................................89