LOCATION CAMAGUEY PREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, isohyperthermic Aquic Hapluderts
TYPICAL PEDON: Camaguey clay--sugarcane (Colors are for moist soil).
Ap--0 to 14 inches; black (10YR 2/1) clay; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; sticky, plastic; few fine roots; common fine and few medium volcanic rock fragments; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (12 to 16 inches thick)
Bss1--14 to 24 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) clay, massive; very firm; sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine shell fragments; common distinct intersecting slickensides having polished and grooved surfaces; common fine distinct light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) masses of iron accumulation; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)
Bss2--24 to 34 inches; olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) clay; crushed color olive brown (2.5Y 4/4); massive; very firm; sticky, plastic; few fine roots; few fine shell fragments; common distinct intersecting slickensides having polished and grooved surfaces; many medium distinct dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) areas of iron depletions; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 12 inches thick)
Bss3--34 to 50+ inches; olive yellow (2.5Y 6/6) clay; crushed color light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4); massive; very firm; sticky, plastic; common distinct intersecting slickensides having polished and grooved surfaces; many medium distinct gray (10YR 5/1) areas of iron depletions; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Culebrinas SCD, Puerto Rico; approximately 1.0 mile west of the town of Moca and about 20 feet north of Kilometer Marker 3.9 of P.R. Highway 111.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Camaguey soils have cracks that open and close more than once during the year but do not remain open for more than 90 cumulative days during the year. Gilgai relief is common in pastures. Reaction ranges from slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline in the A horizons and are moderately alkaline in the Bss horizons.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 and 3, and chroma of less than 2. Texture is clay loam or clay.
The Bss horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Redoximorphic features in shades of brown, yellow, gray range from few to many. It has slight to violent effervescence with dilute HCL. Texture is clay.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Camaguey soils are on foot slopes. Slopes range from 2 to 5 percent. They formed in regolith consisting of fine-textured sediments that weathered from limestone. The climate is humid tropical. The average annual precipitation ranges from 80 to 88 inches and the average annual temperatures ranges from 77 to 79 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Colinas, Naranjo, and Santa Clara series, all of which are on similar positions and are well drained. Colinas soils have coarse-loamy control sections, are moderately deep to limestone, and are Mollisols. Naranjo soils are calcareous and are Mollisols. Santa Clara soils have mixed mineralogy and are moderately deep to limestone.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Camaguey soils are in sugarcane with a few small areas in pasture. The vegetation consists of native and introduced plant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid inner valleys of the Limestone areas of Northern Puerto Rico. The series is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soil Survey of Puerto Rico, 1942.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 14 inches (Ap horizon).
Vertic features - the zone from 14 to 50+ inches (Bss1, Bss2, and Bss3 horizons).