Soil Data Explorer - GEM

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the GEM soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of GEM, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to GEM were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-18). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

Pedons used in the lab summary:

MLRA	Lab ID	Pedon ID	Taxonname	CI	NSSL / NASIS Reports	Link To SoilWeb GMap
10	79P0433	79ID087001	Gem	7	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	44.2586098,-116.706665
10	40A1094	S1957ID045041	GEM	6	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	43.9601517,-116.4359741
10	40A1093	S1957ID045042	GEM	6	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	44.0432053,-116.4870911

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the GEM soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the GEM series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-06) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the GEM series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the GEM series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D terrace figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Competing Series

Soil series competing with GEM share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-06) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the GEM series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the GEM series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D terrace figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with GEM, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

Click a link below to display the diagram. Note that these diagrams may be from multiple survey areas.

1. AZ-2011-05-27-04 | Beaver Creek Area - 1967

   Typical section of soils, upper part of Beaver Creek Area. Elevations range from 3,800 feet to 8,500 feet (Soil Survey of Beaver Creek Area, Arizona; 1967).

2. AZ-2011-05-27-24 | Long Valley Area - 1974

   Typical pattern of soils in area north of East Clear Creek (Soil Survey of Long Valley Area, Arizona; 1974).

3. ID-2010-08-30-01 | Adams-Washington Area - 2001

   Typical pattern of soils and underlying material in general soil map units 5, 10, 16, and 17 (Soil Survey of Adams-Washington Area, Idaho; 2001).

4. NM-2012-02-15-06 | Zuni Mountain Area - July 1967

   Typical section of soils in the southern part of the Zuni Mountains, between Zuni Canyon and the Ice Cave area (Soil Survey of Zuni Mountain Area, New Mexico; July 1967).

Map Units

Map units containing GEM as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Gem clay loam	Gm	4626	1545297	1nw09	az641	1965	1:31680
Gem-Springerville complex	Gn	537	1545298	1nw0b	az641	1965	1:31680
Gem cobbly clay loam, 0 to 20 percent slopes	GcD	35476	1527444	1n8fd	az643	1967	1:31680
Springerville-Gem complex, 0 to 20 percent sloeps	SsD	27103	1527520	1n8hv	az643	1967	1:31680
Gem-Rock outcrop complex, 5 to 40 percent slopes	64	321	2519032	2qbn	id001	2012	1:24000
Gem silty clay loam, 2 to 15 percent slopes	63	209	2519031	2qbm	id001	2012	1:24000
Gem-Reywat complex, 2 to 30 percent slopes	73	61448	81270	2qkm	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem-Reywat complex, 30 to 65 percent slopes	74	49983	81271	2qkn	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem-Bakeoven complex, 2 to 30 percent slopes	71	31587	81268	2qkk	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem stony clay loam, 2 to 30 percent slopes	68	15728	81264	2qkf	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem-Bakeoven complex, 30 to 60 percent slopes	72	14644	81269	2qkl	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem stony clay loam, 30 to 60 percent slopes	69	1798	81265	2qkg	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem extremely stony clay loam, 2 to 30 percent slopes, stony	70	1579	81267	2qkj	id656	1992	1:24000
Gem-Bakeoven complex 30 to 65 percent slopes	GBF	2814	81320	2qm7	id659	1971	1:20000
Gem-Bakeoven complex, 2 to 30 percent slopes	GBE	2796	81319	2qm6	id659	1971	1:20000
Gem and Bakeoven soils, 30 to 60 percent slopes, extremely stony	GnF	12103	80547	2pt9	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem and Bakeoven soils, 0 to 30 percent slopes, extremely stony	GnE	8675	80546	2pt8	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem very stony clay loam, 0 to 30 percent slopes	GmE	7613	80545	2pt7	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem stony clay loam, 30 to 60 percent slopes	GhF	2105	80544	2pt6	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem clay loam, 12 to 30 percent slopes	GcE	1689	80542	2pt4	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem stony clay loam, 12 to 30 percent slopes	GhE	1079	80543	2pt5	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem clay loam, 3 to 7 percent slopes	GcC	369	80540	2pt2	id660	1962	1:15840
Gem clay loam, 7 to 12 percent slopes	GcD	334	80541	2pt3	id660	1962	1:15840
Ridley-Gem complex, 8 to 25 percent slopes	7018	4828	2482222	2p9yp	or645		1:24000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the GEM soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).