LOCATION BIGSALT NM
Established Series
Rev GWC
12/2014
BIGSALT SERIES
The Bigsalt series consists of very deep well drained soils that formed in clayey alluvium. These nearly level soils are on flood plains and alluvial flats. Slopes range from 0 to 1 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 9 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 64 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, gypsic, thermic Gypsic Haplosalids
TYPICAL PEDON: Bigsalt silty clay - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted)
Az--0 to 6 inches (0 to 15 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) silty clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3), moist; 45 percent clay; strong thick platy over strong coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, very firm, very sticky, very plastic; carbonate, finely disseminated and gypsum, finely disseminated and common very fine irregular salt crystals throughout; violently effervescent, 22 percent calcium carbonate equivalent and 12 percent gypsum; moderately alkaline, pH 8.2; electrical conductivity 30.0 dS/m (mmhos/cm); strongly saline; clear smooth boundary.
Bz--6 to 28 inches (15 to 70 cm); reddish brown (5YR 5/4) gypsiferous silty clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3), moist; 38 percent clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; carbonate, finely disseminated and gypsum, finely disseminated and common very fine irregular salt crystals throughout; violently effervescent, 16 percent calcium carbonate equivalent and 22 percent gypsum; moderately alkaline, pH 8.1; electrical conductivity 33.0 dS/m (mmhos/cm); strongly saline; gradual wavy boundary.
Byz1--28 to 40 inches (70 to 100 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) gypsiferous clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4), moist; 44 percent clay; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; carbonate, finely disseminated and common medium irregular gypsum crystal clusters and common very fine irregular salt crystals throughout; strongly effervescent, 11 percent calcium carbonate equivalent and 35 percent gypsum; slightly alkaline, pH 7.8; electrical conductivity 28.0 dS/m (mmhos/cm); strongly saline; diffuse wavy boundary.
Byz2--40 to 51 inches (100 to 130 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) gypsiferous clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4), moist; 48 percent clay; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, very firm, moderately sticky, very plastic; carbonate, finely disseminated and common medium irregular gypsum crystal clusters and common coarse irregular gypsum crystals and common very fine irregular salt crystals throughout; strongly effervescent, 8 percent calcium carbonate equivalent and 28 percent gypsum; moderately alkaline, pH 8.2; electrical conductivity 46.0 dS/m (mmhos/cm); strongly saline; gradual wavy boundary.
Byz3--51 to 60 inches (130 to 152 cm); light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4), moist; 42 percent clay; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; moderately hard, firm, moderately sticky, very plastic; carbonate, finely disseminated and common medium irregular gypsum crystal clusters and common coarse irregular gypsum crystals and common very fine irregular salt crystals throughout; violently effervescent, 17 percent calcium carbonate equivalent and 14 percent gypsum; moderately alkaline, pH 8.1; electrical conductivity 36.0 dS/m (mmhos/cm); strongly saline.
TYPE LOCATION: Sierra County, New Mexico. USGS Quad Lumley Lake. Latitude: 33 degrees 3 minutes 34.10 seconds north, Longitude: 106 degrees 29 minutes 42.40 seconds west, NAD 83; UTM Easting: 360421 meters, UTM Northing: 3658873 meters. UTM zone 13.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Typic aridic soil moisture regime. The moisture control section is usually dry all in parts more than three-fourths of the time that the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F. at 20 inches.
Mean annual soil temperature: 66 to 72 degrees F.
Particle-size control section (weighted average)
Clay content: 35 to 60 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 10 to 25 percent
Gypsum content: 5 to 40 percent
Clay content: 35 to 60 percent
Reaction: slightly to moderately alkaline
Electrical conductivity: 28 to 60 dS/m
Az horizon
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: gypsiferous loamy sand, loamy sand, gypsiferous loam, loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay
Clay: 8 to 45 percent
Salinity: moderately saline to strongly saline
Bz horizon
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: gypsiferous silty clay loam, gypsiferous silty clay, gypsiferous clay
Clay: 35 to 60 percent
Byz horizons
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: gypsiferous clay loam, gypsiferous silty clay loam, gypsiferous silty clay, clay, gypsiferous clay
Clay: 35 to 60 percent
Gypsum: 14 to 40 percent
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bigsalt soils are on floodplains and alluvial flats. Slope is 0 to 1 percent. These soils formed in clayey alluvium. Elevation ranges from 3,900 to 4,020 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 8 to 12 inches. Precipitation falls mostly during the months of July through September. The mean annual air temperature is 64 to 70 degrees F. The frost-free period is 180 to 240 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the
Najul series. Najul soils do not have salic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: well drained; medium runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The major uses are military exercises and wildlife habitat. The site is normally devoid of vegetation but the sparse native vegetation is desert seepweed, four-wing saltbush, iodine bush, salt cedar, inland saltgass and alkali sacaton.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central New Mexico, limited to the Tularosa Basin. MLRA 42, Bigsalt is of limited extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: White Sands Missile Range, Sierra County, New Mexico, 2014. The name Bigsalt is derived from the Big Salt Lake in the Tularosa Basin.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section - the zone from 10 to 40 inches (Bz and Byz1 horizons)
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (Az and Bz horizons)
Salic horizon - the zone from 0 to 60 inches (Az, Bz, and Byz horizons)
Gypsic horizon - the zone from 28 to 60 inches (Byz horizons)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.
Revised for the correlation of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; October, 2014, NMS
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.