LOCATION ALTEZITA NMTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Altezita cobbly loam--on a summit of a plateau sloping 5 percent to the west-southwest at 7,835 feet elevation--ponderosa pine forestland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 2 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) cobbly loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and few very fine roots; few very fine interstitial pores; 10 percent pebbles, 10 percent cobbles, and 1 percent stones; slightly acid (pH 6.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw--2 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) sandy loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic, few coarse, few medium, common fine, and few very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; very faint clay bridging between some sand grains; 5 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 6 inches thick)
2R--7 to 17 inches; very strongly cemented sandstone bedrock
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; about 4.5 miles south southwest of Glorieta; 1000 feet east and 1100 feet north of the southwest corner of section 11, T.15N., R.11E.; USGS Pecos 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees 32 minutes 19 seconds North and Longitude 105 degrees 44 minutes 45 seconds West, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soil moisture control section(SMCS) is moist in all parts from January to May and intermittently moist in some part from June to December. The SMCS is dry in some part less than 60 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inches is above 41 degrees F. The soil moisture regime is typic ustic
Soil temperature - 47 to 49 degrees F.
Organic matter content - 1 to 3 percent
Reaction - slightly acid in the surface and neutral in the subsoil.
Salinity, dS/m - 0 to 1
Sodicity, SAR - 0 to 2
Particle size control section weighted averages:
Silicate clay content: 8 to 18 percent
Sand content: 50 to 70 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: more than 40 percent
Rock fragment content: 10 to 25 percent, lithology of fragments is sandstone.
A horizon
Value: 2 to 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1 or 2 dry, 1 or 2 moist
Rock fragments: total range is 15 to 35 percent; 5 to 15 percent pebbles; 10 to 20 percent cobbles; 0 to 1 percent stones
Bw horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam
Rock fragments: total range is 5 to 14 percent; 0 to 10 percent pebbles; 0 to 5 percent cobbles.
COMPETING SERIES: COMPETING SERIES: These include the Apache (NM), Bluemound (MN), Dalerose (CO), Hedville (KS) and Sogn (KS) series. Apache and Dalerose are in the aridic ustic moisture regime and should be reclassified as Aridic Lithic Haplustolls. Bluemound, Hedville, and Sogn soils are moist in the late spring and early summer in the soil moisture control section. In addition, Hedville soils have a mean annual soil temperature of 52 to 57 degrees F and Sogn soils have more than 20 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Altezita soils are on summits of plateaus. They formed in Permian age eolian deposits derived from sandstone over residuum weathered from sandstone. Slopes are 5 to 10 percent. Elevation ranges from 6,700 to 8,100 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 16 to 18 inches with about 45 percent falling as rain from high-intensity convective thunderstorms between July and September. The mean annual air temperature is 45 to 47 degrees F. The frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Esquila, Sabroso, and Verano soils. Esquila soils are clayey, do not have a mollic epipedon, have an argillic horizon, and occur on adjacent toeslopes of plateaus. Sabroso soils are loamy-skeletal, have an argillic horizon, and occur on steep south-facing backslopes. Verano soils are loamy-skeletal, have an argillic horizon, and occur on steep north-facing backslopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low surface runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Altezita soils are used for timber products and livestock grazing. Present vegetation is ponderosa pine, twoneedle pinyon, Rocky Mountain juniper, Gambel oak, and oneseed juniper, with an understory of mesa dropseed, nutsedge, mountain muhly, blue grama, and junegrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Altezita soils are of small extent on the northern Glorieta Slope part of the Pecos Valley section of the Great Plains physiographic province in northcentral New Mexico. The MLRA is 70A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES PROPOSED: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; Santa Fe Area Soil Survey Update; 2000. Altezita is a place name.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - 0 to 7 inches. (A and Bw horizons)
Lithic contact - 7 inches. (top of 2R layer)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: None