LOCATION BRENDA                  NM

Established Series
Rev. WAB/VGL/RLB
12/2022

BRENDA SERIES

The Brenda series consist of a very deep well drained, moderately permeable soils overlying a rapidly permeable soil that formed in mixed alluvium. Slope range from 10 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation about 9 inches. Mean annual air temperature is about 60 degrees F

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Calciargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Brenda very gravelly loam, native rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 2 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak thin platy and weak fine crumb structure; soft, very friable; many fine and few medium roots; common fine tubular pores; 50 percent rounded igneous gravel; strongly calcareous; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)

Bt1--2 to 14 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly clay loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and very fine roots; common fine tubular pores; moderately thick nearly continuous distinct films on surfaces of peds and in pores; 25 percent rounded igneous gravel; strongly calcareous; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)

Bt2--14 to 24 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and very fine roots; common fine and very fine tubular pores, few faint clay films on surfaces of peds and in pores; 30 percent rounded igneous gravel; strongly calcareous; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)

2Bk--24 to 40 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly coarse sand, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; single grained; soft, very friable few fine and very fine roots in upper part; strongly calcareous with lime segregated as coating on underneath side of pebbles.

TYPE LOCATION: Luna County, New Mexico; 600 feet south, 80 feet east of NW corner SE1/4 sec. 21, T.20S., R.8W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

The solum thickness and depth to the gravelly and sandy underlying material range from 20 to 36 inches

Mean annual soil temperature ranges from - 59 to 72 degrees F.

Soil moisture Typic aridic moisture regime

Rock fragments on the surface ranges from 40 to 60 percent cover and consists of rhyolite and basalt.

Particle size control section - the zone from 2 to 22 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons)

Rock fragments: averages 15 to 35 percent gravel size fragments.

A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3

Bt horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 to 4 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4 becoming lighter with increasing depth
Texture: gravelly clay loam to gravelly sandy clay loam
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Structure: weak to moderate, fine to medium subangular blocky structure, and has few thin to many moderate thick clay films

Bk horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: gravelly sand or fine sand
Calcium carbonates equivalent: 15 to 30 percent lime which is mainly disseminated but includes thick coatings on underneath sides of the pebbles. Rock fragments: contains 20 to 40 percent gravel.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Blackmagic (CA), Cornville (AZ), Dona Ana (NM), Elizario (NM), Hap (NM), Jagerson (AZ), Kidwell (NM), Madurez (NM), Mcnew (NM), Mohave (AZ), Nutt (NM), Poachie (AZ) and Tres Hermanos (NM). Blackmagic, Cornville, Dona Ana, Elizario, Hap, Kidwell, Madurez, Mcnew, Nutt, Poachie and Tres Hermanos soils do not have gravelly sand or fine sand in the lower part of the profile below the argillic horizon. Blackmagic and Jagerson soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30) and receive most of the precipitation in the winter. Mohave soils are in the Sonoran Desert and Sonoran-Chihuahuan transition (MLRAs 40 & 41) and have a bi-modal precipitation pattern.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on low rolling hills of 10 to 25 percent slopes. They formed in moderately fine and moderately coarse textured gravelly, calcareous material derived from alluvial outwash from the Santa Fe formation. The climate is semiarid with an average annual rainfall of 8 to 10 inches with a distinct summer maximum. The average annual temperature is 60 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ledru, Lehmans, and Stellar soils. Ledru and Lehmans soils have clayey textures in the control section and have hard bedrock at depths of 20 inches or less. Stellar soils lack mollic epipedons, have clayey textures in the control sections, and do not have contrasting coarser textures within a depth of 40 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; rapid runoff; slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used entirely for native rangeland. Native vegetation is mainly grasses such as tobosa, black grama, blue grama, spike dropseed, and three-awns. A few shrubs such as mesquite, and algerita, also occur.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New Mexico. This soil is of small extent. MLRA 42

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Luna County, New Mexico, 1973.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizon and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon.)

Argillic horizon - the zone from 2 to 24 inches (Bt1 and Bt2 horizons)

Calcic horizon - the zone from 24 to 40 inches (2Bk horizon)

Classification changed from fine-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Aridic Argiustolls to fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Calciargids in 2006. The particle-size control section is not strongly contrasting. Even though the A horizon and the Bt1 horizon have mollic colors, this soil is not moist long enough to have a mollic epipedon.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.