LOCATION BURNSWICK               AZ+NM

Established Series
Rev. AAD/DLR/PDC
09/2025

BURNSWICK SERIES

The Burnswick series consists of very deep, well drained sodic soils formed in alluvium. Burnswick soils are on fan terraces. Slopes are 1 to 5 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 8 inches (200 mm) and the mean annual air temperature is about 54 degrees F (12 degrees C).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Sodic Haplocambids

TYPICAL PEDON: Burnswick sandy clay loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 3 inches (0 to 8 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine vesicular pores; 5 percent gravel; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches (3 to 15 cm) thick)

Bw1--3 to 11 inches (8 to 28 cm); reddish brown (5YR 5/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; many very fine roots; many very fine tubular pores; noneffervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches (13 to 30 cm) thick)

Bw2--11 to 16 inches (28 to 41 cm); reddish brown (5YR 5/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; many fine roots; many fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 cm) thick)

Bkn1--16 to 29 inches (41 to 74 cm); reddish brown (5YR 5/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine roots; common fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent; secondary calcium carbonate filling pores and coating faces of peds; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches 20 to 51 cm) thick)

Bkn2--29 to 41 inches (74 to 104 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine and very fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular pores; strongly effervescent; secondary calcium carbonate filling pores and coating faces of peds; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 20 inches thick)

BCn--41 to 53 inches (104 to 135 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular and irregular pores; strongly effervescent; disseminated calcium carbonate; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 15 inches thick)

2Bknb--53 to 60 inches 135 to 152 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/3) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and plastic; 10 percent fine gravel; violently effervescent; common fine and medium calcium carbonate nodules and common thin coatings on gravel; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Navajo County, Arizona; about 7 miles northwest of Holbrook; about 2,550 feet east of the southwest corner of section 33, T. 19 N., R. 20 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July - September and December - February. Driest during May and June. Moist in the soil moisture control section more than 20 days cumulative in the summer. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.

Soil Temperature - 53 to 58 degrees F (12 to 14 degrees C)

Rock Fragments - ranges to 25 percent in any one horizon, averages less than 15 percent

Depth to base of cambic horizon - 10 to 30 inches (25 to 76 cm)

Salinity - nonsaline to slightly saline

Sodicity - nonsodic to strongly sodic

Organic matter - less than 1 percent

Reaction - moderately or strongly alkaline

Calcium carbonate: 1 to 15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; as secondary fillings in pores, small masses, and as coatings on faces of peds or sand grains.

A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist

Bw & Bk horizons
Hue: 5YR, 2.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: sandy clay loam, clay loam, loam (averages 20 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section)

BC and buried Bk horizons
Hue: 5YR, 2.5YR
Value: 5, 6, or 7 dry, 4, 5, or 6 moist
Chroma: 2, 3, or 4, dry or moist
Texture: sandy loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Raph series. Raph soils (MLRA 28B) are moist for less than 20 days cumulative in the summer months.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Burnswick soils are on fan terraces and have slopes of 1 to 5 percent. They formed in fan alluvium. Elevations are 4,800 to 6,200 feet (1455 to 1880 m). The climate is cool arid continental with a mean annual precipitation of 6 to 10 inches (150 to 250 mm) that occurs as summer thunderstorms and winter rain and snow. The mean annual air temperature is 51 to 56 degrees F (11 to 13 degrees C). The frost-free period is 130 to 190 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Claysprings, Jocity, Marcou, Tours, and Sheppard soils. Claysprings soils are fine textured and are shallow to a paralithic contact. Jocity, Tours and Sheppard soils do not have cambic horizons. In addition, the Sheppard soils are in a sandy family. Marcou soils are adjacent and coarse-loamy.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate runoff; moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, recreation, and to a very limited extent for irrigated cropland. Vegetation consists of alkali sacaton, galleta, black grama, mound saltbush, fourwing saltbush, shadscale, and Mormon-tea.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Arizona. The series is of moderate extent. MLRA 35.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Navajo County, Arizona; Soil survey of Navajo County Area, Arizona, Central Part; 1994.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)

Cambic horizon - the zone from 3 to 41 inches (Bw1, Bw2, Bkn1, Bkn2 horizons)

Sodic subgroup - the zone from 16 to 60 inches (Bkn, BCn, 2Bknb horizons)

Classified according to Soil taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.

Updates and revisions for the correlation of Ft. Defiance Area (AZ715), February 2008, DWD.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.