LOCATION SANELI TX+NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey over sandy or sandy-skeletal, smectitic, calcareous, thermic Vertic Torrifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Saneli silty clay--cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 12 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) silty clay, brown (7.5YR 5/2) moist; weak subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm; few cracks 2 cm wide extending to lower boundary; many roots; slightly effervescent, moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
C1--12 to 32 inches; pinkish gray (5YR 6/2) clay, reddish gray (5YR 5/2) moist; few medium and coarse angular blocky peds and a few parallelepipeds, very hard; very firm; few cracks 2 cm. wide extending to lower boundary; many roots; few whitish films and threads of salt; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (14 to 22 inches thick)
2C2--32 to 42 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) fine sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3) moist; single grained; weak bedding planes; loose, very friable, effervescent, moderately alkaline; abrupt boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
2C3--42 to 50 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) fine sand, pale brown (10YR 6/3); many thin strata of brown silt loam and loam; massive; evident bedding planes; effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: El Paso County, Texas. In a cultivated field 50 feet west of Prado Drive, from a point .75 mile southwest of U. S. Highway 80 (northwest of Ysleta High School).
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in the soil moisture control section during July-August. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Thickness of the clayey layer: 21 to 34 inches
These soils are usually dry in most years in all parts between 7 and 20 inches and have cracks more than 1 cm wide and 12 inches long that extend to 20 inches or more below the surface when the soil is dry.
Organic matter decreases irregularly with depth to 50 inches below the surface.
A and C horizons
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 or 6
Chroma: 2 through 4
Texture: silty clay loam, silty clay, or clay
Reaction: moderately alkaline
Effervescence: calcareous
Mineralogy: smectitic
2C horizon
Texture: sand, fine sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand, with few to many thin strata of fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam
Reaction: slightly to moderately alkaline
Effervescence: calcareous to noncalcareous
Mineralogy: mixed
In some pedons thin strata of contrasting materials are lacking in the lower part.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Saneli soils occupy nearly level flood plains of major streams. Slopes are mostly less than 1 percent. The regolith consists of clayey over sandy sediments many feet thick. The climate is arid with an average annual precipitation of 4 to 12 inches, and a Thornthwaite P-E index of 10 to 15. The mean annual air temperature ranges from 59 to 68 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Anapra, Tigua, Brazito, Gila, Glendale, Harkey, and Vinton soils. All these soils have less than 35 percent clay in the 10- to 40-inch control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Surface runoff is very slow. Water enters the soil rapidly when the soils are dry and cracked, but very slow when the soil is wet and the cracks are sealed. Internal drainage is slow. Permeability is very slow.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of these soils are used for irrigated cropland. Crops are cotton, alfalfa, grain sorghums, and vegetables.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern part of the Trans-Pecos in West Texas, along the Rio Grande and major tributaries and in New Mexico. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 42. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: El Paso County, Texas; 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 12 inches (Ap horizon)
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons
Fluvial feature - Irregular decrease in organic carbon in the zone from 12 to 50 inches (C1, 2C2, 2C3 horizons)
Vertic feature - soil cracks
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999.
When the competing series section was updated in September 2001, questions were raised about the pedon description of this series. A field study of the type location is recommended to update the description.