LOCATION CARLITO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Vertic Paleustalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Carlito stony loam, pinyon-juniper woodland. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) stony loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine and very fine granular structure; soft, friable; common very fine granular structure; soft, friable; common very fine and fine roots; 25 percent stones and cobbles; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bt1--4 to 8 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; strong fine and medium angular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; common moderately thick clay films on faces of peds; 15 percent stones, cobbles, and gravel; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bt2--8 to 18 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, dark red (2.5YR 3/6) moist; strong fine and medium angular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; few very fine, fine and medium roots; few slickensides; continuous moderately thick clay films on faces of peds; calcareous with disseminated lime; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
Btkss--18 to 34 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silty clay, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium and coarse prismatic structure parting to subangular blocky; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; few medium roots; few slickensides; strongly effervescent with large irregularly shaped soft calcium carbonate masses; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 16 inches thick)
Btkss--34 to 60 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) silty clay, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; massive; hard, firm, sticky, plastic; common, fine fragments of shale; few slickensides and pressure faces; violently effervescent, with disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Bernalillo County, New Mexico; NW1/4 NE1/4 sec. 24, T.10N., R.5E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Continuously moist, in most years, in some part of the soil moisture control section November through April and intermittently moist July through October. The soil is driest during May and June. Aridic ustic moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 49 to 53 degrees F.
Particle-size control section: 45 to 55 percent clay
Rock fragments: 5 to 30 percent in the surface layer and 5 to 15 in the Bt1 horizon.
Percent calcium carbonate equivalent: 3 to 14 percent in the Bk horizons.
A horizon
Chroma of 3 or 4.
Texture: stony loam or stony clay loam.
Bt horizon
Hue: 2.5YR or 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 through 6.
Bk horizon
Chroma of 3 or 4.
Texture: Clay or silty clay
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Carlito soils are on strongly sloping to extremely steep sides of mountains and canyons. Elevations range from 6,500 to 7,500 feet. The soils formed in materials mainly from shale, but there is also a sandstone influence. These soils have semiarid climate. Annual precipitation is about 12 to 14 inches. Annual temperature ranges from 49 to 52 degrees, frost free period is 120 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Burnac, Cibeque, and Seis soils. Burnac soils have a frigid temperature regime. Cibeque soils have a calcic horizon and lack an argillic horizon. Seis soils have a loamy-skeletal control section and have an ustic aridic moisture regime.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium to rapid runoff; slowly permeable.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for native rangeland, wildlife habitat, recreation, and watershed. Principal native vegetation is pinyon pine, Utah juniper, alligator juniper, shrub live oak, prickly pear, yucca, grama grasses, and squirreltail.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountainous lands in central New Mexico. The series is of moderate extent. MLRA 39 and 70C (CP-3).
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Bernalillo County (Albuquerque Area), New Mexico, 1973.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 4 inches. (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - The zone from 4 to 60+ inches. (Bt horizons)
Pale feature - 20 percent clay increase within 3 inches and a clayey particle-size class
Vertic subgroup - cracks, slickensides and pressure faces in the Bt.
Classification was changed in 1993 from Ustollic Haplargids to Vertic Paleargids.