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Southern California Physical Environment

 

 


I chose to do three regions in a west to east gradient in southern California.  The regions that I chose are pinpointed in the map below.  








Los Angeles/Long Beach (West)

 The west coast of southern California experiences a Mediterranean climate as it experiences warm temperatures year-round with a dry season during the summertime. 


 

I found that the most dominant types of soils around the west coast of southern California are entisols and mollisols. Entisols are identified by their lack of genetic horizons except for the A horizon in the soil profile.  They are often associate with shore deposits.  The entisols found in this area are usually pretty deep (around 100-150cm).  Their depth makes them resistant to erosion. These soils are not hydric, meaning that they are not formed under conditions of water saturation. Mollisols are associated with grasslands.  They have a thick and dark surface horizon.  They have lots of organic matter in their surface horizon from decomposed plant matter. They are not hydric, but they do tend to have a higher moisture content than etisols. They also tend to be deeper than etisols (200cm) in this area.  This region is dominated by urban development. 






SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

 

San Bernardino National Forest

The San Bernardino National Forest (Central southern CA) has a climate that is similar to the west coast, but it has a little more variability in temperature and precipitation.




 

I found that the dominant soil types in this area are also entisols and mollisols.  However, the entisols in this region are more shallow than those found on the coast (about 20-60cm).  In general, entisols are diverse in their compositions and depth.  However, this region has areas of mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers that give its entisols great diversity.  This region's mollisols are also more shallow than those on the coast (about 15-60cm).  This region has far less urban development than the west coast.










SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

Mojave National Preserve

The Mojave National Preserve (east southern California) sees the warmest temperatures and the least amount of precipitation of the three regions that I chose.  However, it experiences more temperature variation than the west coast.



 

The most dominant type of soil around this region is aridisols.  They are classified by their extremely low moisture content and limited leaching.  They are eroded often and have high concentrations of calcium, salts, and clay. The depths of these soils in the region vary similarly compared to the other regions I chose (16 to 160cm). This desert region sees the least amount of soil type variability out of the three regions that I chose.  This region also has the least amount of urban development out of the three regions that I chose.




SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

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