LOCATION CANUTIO TX+NM NVEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Canutio gravelly sandy loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ak--0 to 11 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard; very friable; common fine and medium roots; 20 percent gravel and 10 percent cobbles; coarse fragments are igneous and limestone; surface cover of about 60 percent coarse fragments from 1/4 inch to 6 or 8 inches in diameter; calcium carbonate coating on coarse fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 15 inches thick)
BCk1--11 to 45 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; loose; very friable; few roots in upper part; 40 percent gravel, 15 percent cobbles and 5 percent stones, coarse fragments are mostly rounded igneous and limestone fragments with calcium carbonate coatings; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (32 to 52 inches thick)
BCk2--45 to 80 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) extremely gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; loose; very friable; 50 percent gravel, 20 percent cobbles that are mostly rounded igneous and limestone fragments with calcium carbonate coatings; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: El Paso County, Texas; about 10 miles north of El Paso via U.S. Highway 80; 75 feet east of a gravel road from a point 0.7 mile north of Tom Mays Park Road from a point 2.4 miles east of U.S. Highway 80 at Canutillo, Texas. (Latitude: 31 degrees, 54 minutes, 47 seconds North; Longitude: 106 degrees, 33 minutes, 32 seconds West.)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Typic aridic soil moisture regime. The moisture control section is usually dry in all parts more than three-fourths of the time that the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F.
Soil temperature: 63 to 67 degrees F.
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 8 to 18 percent
Coarse fragment content: 35 to 85 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 5 percent (less than 20 mm fraction)
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture modifier: gravelly, very gravelly or very cobbly
Coarse fragments: igneous and limestone fragments; 25 to 50 percent total coarse fragments; 20 to 50 percent gravel, 5 to 30 percent cobbles, and 0 to 20 percent stones
BCk horizons:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: sandy loam or loam
Texture modifier: gravelly, very gravelly, extremely gravelly, very cobbly, or extremely cobbly
Coarse fragments: igneous and limestone fragments; 35 to 85 percent total coarse fragments (weighted average); individual horizons may contain 25 to 65 percent gravel; 0 to 40 cobbles, and 0 to 10 percent stones
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Canoto (NV),
Cavespring (CA),
Emot (NM),
Ogral (NM),
Spellacy (CA),
Storybook (AZ), and
Yermo (CA) series.
Canoto soils have more than 13 percent of the total moisture as winter moisture and have thinner A horizons. The Canoto soils mean annual temperature range from 66 to 71 degrees F.
Cavespring, Spellacy and Storybook soils are moist in some part of the control section for less than 20 days cumulative between July and October.
Emot soils average more than 18 percent clay in the particle size control section.
Ogral soils have hues of 7.5YR and 5YR through out its profile and nongravelly A and C1 horizons.
Yermo soils are dry in the control section throughout the summer.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: alluvium
Landform: alluvial fan, fan skirt, inset fan, and fan apron on fan piedmonts and on valley floors of wide arroyos
Slope: 1 to 30 percent
Mean annual air temperature: 62 to 66 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 8 to 10 inches
Precipitation pattern: precipitation falls mostly during the months of July through September. The driest months are March and April. Precipitation during the months of January, February, and March is less than 13 percent of the totals.
Frost-free period: 200 to 240 days
Elevation: 3,900 to 4,200 feet
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Delnorte series. Delnorte soils have a petrocalcic horizon with its upper boundary within 20 inches of the surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is very low on slopes of 1 to 5 percent, low on slopes of 5 to 20 percent, and medium on slopes greater than 20 percent. Permeability is moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and urban development. Rangeland is of low carrying capacity. Vegetation is mostly a sparse cover of creosotebush, fluffgrass, sixweeks grama, lechuguilla, and ocotillo.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Far West Texas in MLRA 42 of Texas and southern New Mexico. Series is of moderate extent. Use of this series in Nevada (Mohave Desert) should be discontinued.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: El Paso County, Texas; 1970.
REMARKS: The type location was recovered during the mapping of the Fort Bliss soil survey. The profile was redescribed to 80 inches and the range in characteristic updated.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 11 inches (Ak horizon)