LOCATION AGUADILLA PREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Mixed, isohyperthermic Typic Udipsamments
TYPICAL PEDON: Aguadilla loamy sand--in a pasture. (Colors are for the moist soil)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loamy sand; single grain; loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; many fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary (6 to 12 inches thick).
C1--8 to 20 inches; 50 percent brown (10YR 5/3) and 50 percent brown (10YR 4/3) sand; single grain; loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary (8 to 16 inches thick)
C2--20 to 40 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sand; single grain; loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary (15 to 25 inches thick)
C3--40 to 60 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand; single grain; loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Este SCD, Puerto Rico; approximately 3.0 miles east of the town of Yabucoa in the Roig farm. About 100 feet north from a farm road and about 300 feet south from the east end of a sugarcane plantation, in a field of St. Augustine grass.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is sand, loamy sand, or sandy loam.
The C horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is sand or loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: The Espinal series is the only known soil in the same family. Espinal soils are on similar positions and are calcareous at a depth of 16 to 24 inches below the surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Aguadilla soils occur along the coast at elevation just above sea level. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. They formed in regolith that consists of sand size volcanic fragments, quartz grains, and shell fragments. The climate is humid tropical. The average annual precipitation ranges from 75 to 85 inches and the average annual temperature ranges from 76 to 78 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Espinal series, along with the Catano and Coloso series. Catano soils are on adjacent beaches and are calcareous throughout. The somewhat poorly drained Coloso soils are on adjacent flood plains and have very-fine, kaolinitic control sections.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Excessively drained; very rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Aguadilla soils are used mostly for pasture and coconuts. The vegetation consists of native and introduced grasses and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid coastal plains of Puerto Rico. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Puerto Rico, 1936.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 8 inches (Ap horizon).