LOCATION BERRYMAN                NM

Established Series
Rev. JER/LWH/SJJ
08/2016

BERRYMAN SERIES

The Berryman series consists of very deep, well drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in slope alluvium from shale and limestone. Berryman soils are on valley sides, alluvial fans and toe slopes. Slopes range from 3 to l0 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 15 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 46 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, carbonatic, mesic Aridic Haplustepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Berryman silt loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 3 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine vesicular pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)

Bw--3 to 16 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine vesicular pores; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (9 to 30 inches thick)

Bk--16 to 80 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silty clay loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; many fine soft masses of calcium carbonate accumulations; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).

TYPE LOCATION: Rio Arriba County. New Mexico; 2.9 miles south and 0.3 mile west of junction of NM Highway 115 and U.S. Highway 84, 2,400 feet south and 2,400 feet east of the NW corner of Sec. 34, T. 26 N., R. 4 E.; 106 degrees, 30 minutes, 47 seconds west longitude; 36 degrees, 26 minutes,08 seconds north latitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section December through April and July through October. The soil is driest during May and June.

Soil temperature: 47 to 51 degrees F.

Calcium carbonate equivalent: 40 to 55 percent

Reaction: slightly to moderately alkaline

Non-carbonate clay in the 10 to 40 inch control section: 18 to 35 percent; with an additional 15 to 25 percent clay-sized carbonates.


A horizon:
Hue - 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry or moist.


Bw horizon:
Hue - l0YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry or moist
Texture: silt clay loam or silty loam.


Bk horizon:
Hue - 10YR or 2.5Y.
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry or moist
Texture: silty clay loam or silt loam.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Ransect(NM) series. The Ransect soils are 20 to 40 inches to a lithic contact. (This section needs to be updated after the series was re-classified)

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Berryman soils are on valley sides, alluvial fans and toe slopes. Slopes range from 3 to 10 percent. Elevations are 6,700 to 7,600 feet. The soils formed in slope alluvium from shale and limestone. Mean annual precipitation is 13 to 16 inches. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 48 degrees F., and the frost-free period is 100 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ruson and Teromote soils. Ruson soils lack a cambic horizon. Teromote soils have mixed mineralogy.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium runoff, slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Berryman soils are used for grazing livestock. The present vegetation is western wheatgrass, winterfat, bottlebrush squirreltail, and galleta.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern New Mexico. Series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1989.

REMARKS: Classification History
(1) Fine, mixed, mesic Typic Ustochrepts (original concept)

(2) Fine-loamy, carbonatic, mesic Aridic Ustochrepts (1987). Based on lab data S80NM-039-005 from NMSU and a better understanding of soil moisture regimes in New Mexico.

(3) Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustepts (2000 taxonomy change)

(4) Fine-loamy, carbonatic, mesic Haplocalcidic Haplustepts (~ 2003)

(5) Fine-loamy, carbonatic, mesic Aridic Haplustepts (~ 2016)

The classification was changed from Haplocalcidic Haplustepts back to Aridic Haplustepts. To be Haplocalcidic, the soil must have a calcic horizon within 100cm, and also be leached of carbonates in the top 18cm after mixing. The historical concept of this series meets neither of these requirements.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 3 inches (A horizon)
Cambic horizon - the zone from 3 to 16 inches (Bw horizon)

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.