LOCATION ALLAMORE                TX

Established Series
Rev. RAC/JLR/RLB
07/2012

ALLAMORE SERIES

The Allamore series consists of shallow and very shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soil over very slowly permeable sandstone bedrock. These soils are on gently sloping to steep sandstone hills and mountains. Slope ranges from 3 to about 45 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 10 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 64 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Lithic Ustic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Allamore very cobbly loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 3 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) very cobbly loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; about 40 percent by volume of angular and subrounded sandstone, limestone, and igneous fragments up to 6 inches across with thin patchy coatings of calcium carbonate on the lower sides; few fine concretions of calcium carbonate; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)

Bk--3 to 11 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) extremely cobbly loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak very fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; contains about 65 percent by volume of sandstone, limestone, and igneous fragments up to 6 inches across that are coated with calcium carbonate; about 15 percent by volume as calcium carbonate soft masses and concretions in the matrix and continuous coatings on fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)

R--11 to 16 inches; indurated, red, very fine grained sandstone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Hudspeth County, Texas. From the railroad crossing in Allamore, Texas; north on the county road for 4.6 miles, then 50 feet north in range.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - This soil is located in the Ustic aridic moisture regime

Soil temperature - 61 to 70 degrees F.

Depth to sandstone bedrock: 8 to 20 inches.

Coarse fragments: range from 35 to 75 percent by volume of the soil mass.

Texture of the fine earth fraction: fine sandy loam, sandy loam or loam.

A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Values: 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam

Bk horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 8 dry, 4 to 7 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 30 percent.

R horizon
The sandstone and siltstone bedrock has a hardness of more than 3 on Moh's scale.
It is red or reddish brown.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Decoty (TX) series. Decoty soils are dominated by rock size fragments and parent material derived from Mitchell Mesa ignimbrite and contain 7.5YR or 10YR hues.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Allamore soils are on gently sloping to steep sandstone hills and mountains. The underlying metamorphic sandstone and siltstone bedrock is of the Precambrian Era. The rock fragments in the A horizons are both sedimentary and igneous materials from nearby hills. Slopes are from 3 to about 45 percent. The climate is arid. Elevation is 4,000 to 5,500 feet. Average annual rainfall is 10 to 16 inches, with most of it occurring in the summer months. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 59 to 68 degrees F. The frost-free period is 210-250 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Delnorte, Mimbres, Reakor, and the similar Beach and Lozier soils. Delnorte, Mimbres, and Reakor soils are not underlain by bedrock. Delnorte soils are shallow over a petrocalcic horizon; Mimbres and Reakor soils have fine-silty control sections. Mimbres and Reakor soils occur in valleys and draws. Delnorte soils occur on gravelly ridges in valleys. Beach and Lozier soils are on similar landscapes.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is very high. Permeability is moderate above the very slowly permeable sandstone bedrock.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for rangeland and wildlife land. Native vegetation now growing on most areas is black grama, sideoats grama, threeawns, lechuguilla, pricklypear, and ephedra.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southwest Texas. The series is of moderate extent. MLRA 42.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Special soil survey in Hudspeth County, Texas; 2001.

REMARKS: The name is from a small community near the type location. Several thousand acres of this soil have been mapped in Hudspeth County, Texas, now a nonprogressive survey. The source of carbonates in this soil is believed to be mostly from dust, or ancient slope alluvium. Although the coarse fragments in the control section are mostly of the sandstone bedrock material, limestone and igneous fragments from nearby hills occur in most pedons. Faulting is extensive in this vicinity.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

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

Calcic horizon - the zone from 3 to 11 inches (Bk horizon)

Lithic contact - the contact at 11 inches (R horizon)

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eleventh Edition, 2010

Revised for the correlation of Hudspeth County, Texas (Main Part) and Culberson County, Texas (Main Part); July, 2012, NMS

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.