LOCATION SEIS NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Seis stony loam, pinyon and juniper woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 7 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) stony loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky; 20 percent stones, 20 percent cobbles, and 30 percent gravel; few very fine and fine roots; strongly calcareous with disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 8 inches thick)
Bk--7 to 13 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) very stony clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; 30 percent stones, 15 percent cobbles, and 5 percent gravel; many carbonate pendants on the undersides of the stones and cobbles; common very fine, fine, and few medium and coarse roots; strongly calcareous with many calcium carbonate masses; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 9 inches thick)
BCk--13 to 30 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) very stony light clay loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) moist; massive, hard, firm, slightly sticky; 50 percent stones, 15 percent cobbles, and 5 percent gravel; few very fine, fine, and medium roots; strongly calcareous with many large irregular calcium carbonate masses; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (15 to 25 inches thick)
R--30 inches; limestone, fractured.
TYPE LOCATION: Bernalillo County, New Mexico; SE1/4 SW1/4 section 27, T.10N., R.5E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Usually dry, but is intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section April through October. The soil is driest during November and March.
Soil Temperature: 47 to 54 degrees F.
Particle-size control section - Rock fragments - 40 to 70 percent
Calcium carbonate - 15 to 35 percent in the Bw or Bk horizons.
Depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 to 4.
Texture: extremely gravelly, stony loam or stony sandy loam.
Other features: In some pedons the surface 2 inch layer is crusted and vesicular.
Bw, or Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 to 4.
Texture: very gravelly sandy clay loam, stony or very stony clay loam or heavy loam.
BCk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 4 to 7 moist.
Chroma: 2 to 6.
Texture: very gravelly sandy clay loam, very stony loam or very stony light clay loam.
Other features: This horizon has 10 to 35 percent carbonate on a weighted basis.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Buffcreek(WY), Clapper(UT), Claprych (WY), Ildefonso (NM), Placitas (NM), and Strych (UT) series. Buffcreek, Clapper, Claprych, Ildefonso, and Strych soils do not have a lithic contact within a depth of 40 inches. Placitas soils have a paralithic contact at 20 to 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Seis soils are on gently to moderately sloping limestone canyon and mountainous terrain. Slopes range from 12 to 35 percent. The soils formed in materials mainly from limestone and sandstone. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 16 inches. The average annual temperature ranges from 45 to 57 degrees F. Elevation ranges from 5,600 to 7,800 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Ildefonso soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is low on 12 to 20 percent slopes and medium on slopes greater than 20 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for recreation, wildlife habitat, and native rangeland. Principal native vegetation is pinyon pine, Utah juniper, yucca, prickly pear, blue grama, and snakeweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills and low elevation mountain slopes of central New Mexico and back slope positions in western Colorado. It is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bernalillo County (Albuquerque Area), New Mexico, 1973.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches. (A horizon). When colors meet the requirements of a mollic epipedon, the organic carbon or chroma does not.
Calcic horizon: 7 to 30 inches. (Bk and BCk horizons)
Lithic contact: the boundary with bedrock at about 30 inches.