United States Department of Agriculture Supplement to the Natural Soil Survey of Resources Conservation Service Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern 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 Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District; the Foundation for Pierce College and Pierce College Farm Center; and the State of California, Department of Conservation. This supplement accompanies the most current official data for the soil survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part, available at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov. Acknowledgement is also given to the many agencies, organization, cities, and school districts who provided access to lands and areas that were essential to making this survey. They include the Army Corps of Engineers, Baldwin Hills Conservancy, Burbank Unified School District, California Coastal Commission, California State Parks, California Polytechnic State University—Pomona, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles World Airports, Montebello Unified School District, Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Many thanks to all cooperating cities and municipalities that provided access to the city parks and other city owned properties. They are Azusa, Baldwin Park, Beverly Hills, Carson, Cerritos, Compton, Covina, Culver City, Diamond Bar, Duarte, El Monte, El Segundo, Gardena, Glendora, Hawthorne, Industry, Inglewood, La Canada- Flintridge, La Mirada, La Puente, La Verne, Lakewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Montebello, Monterey Park, Norwalk, Palos Verdes Estates, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Pomona, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rosemead, San Dimas, Santa Fe Springs, Santa Monica, Sierra Madre, Signal Hill, South El Monte, South Pasadena, Temple City, Torrance, Walnut, West Covina, West Hollywood, and Whittier. This document is part of the technical assistance furnished by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lancaster, California Office to the Santa Monica Mountain Resource Conservation District. Major fieldwork for this soil survey was completed in 2016. Soil names and descriptions were approved in 2016. Unless otherwise indicated, statements in this publication refer to conditions in the survey area in 2016. Literature Citation The correct citation for this survey is as follows: United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2017. Supplement to the soil survey of Los Angeles County, California, Southeastern Part. Accessible online at: http://soils.usda.gov/survey/printed_surveys/. Cover Caption The Los Angeles metropolitan area, as seen looking south from Verdugo Mountain, near Glendale, California. Downtown Los Angeles is in the center of the photo, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula is in the distance. 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 ...................................................................................................................8 Table 1.—Temperature ........................................................................................9 Table 2.—Precipitation ......................................................................................10 Urban Use of Soils ...................................................................................................11 How This Survey Was Made ....................................................................................13 Soil Mapping in the Urban Environment ...................................................................15 Anthropogenic Soil Descriptions and Symbols ....................................................17 Classification of the Soils ..........................................................................................19 Soil Series and Their Morphology ............................................................................19 Abaft Series .........................................................................................................20 Alo Series ............................................................................................................21 Anaheim Series ...................................................................................................22 Anthraltic Xerorthents, Loamy Substratum ..........................................................23 Apollo Series ........................................................................................................25 Aquic Xerorthents ................................................................................................27 Aquic Xerorthents, Fine Substratum ....................................................................29 Aquic Xerorthents, Graded ..................................................................................30 Arbolado Series ...................................................................................................32 Azuvina Series .....................................................................................................35 Balcom Series ......................................................................................................37 Ballast Series .......................................................................................................39 Ballona Series ......................................................................................................42 Biscailuz Series ...................................................................................................44 Blasingame Series ...............................................................................................46 Boades Series .....................................................................................................46 Bolsa Series .........................................................................................................48 Buzzpeak Series ..................................................................................................50 Calcic Haploxerepts .............................................................................................53 Calleguas Series ..................................................................................................55 Caperton Family ..................................................................................................56