LOCATION CLAYSPRINGS             AZ+CO NM

Established Series
Rev. MLM/YHH/PDC
10/2011

CLAYSPRINGS SERIES

The Claysprings series consists of shallow and very shallow, well drained soils that formed in colluvium, residuum, and alluvium derived from shale, siltstone, and mudstone. Claysprings soils are on plateaus, knobs, ridges, hills, and canyons. Slopes range from 0 to 65 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 8 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 54 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, smectitic, calcareous, mesic, shallow Typic Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Claysprings clay - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 4 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak thick platy and weak medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and medium roots; very few fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)

C--4 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/3) clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; massive; very hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; few medium tubular pores; few medium distinct pink accumulations of calcium carbonate, slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)

2Cr--18 to 34 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) weathered shale, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist, few gypsum crystals; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); gradual irregular boundary. (8 to 14 inches thick)

2R--34 inches; shale.

TYPE LOCATION: Apache County, Arizona; about 4 miles southwest of Saint Johns; about 2,640 feet south of the northeast corner of Section 7, T. 12 N., R. 28 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture: Typic aridic; intermittently moist in the soil moisture control section during July-September and December-February. Driest during May and June.

Soil temperature regime: mesic

Mean annual soil temperature: 54 to 59 degrees F.

Particle-size control section: 35 to 60 percent clay

Depth to paralithic contact: 6 to 20 inches to soft shale

Depth to gypsiferous material: some profiles contain gypsum

Salinity: nonsaline to very strongly saline

A horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 7 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: clay, clay loam
Rock fragments: 5 to 80 percent
Salinity: EC 0 to 16 (dS/m)
Sodicity: SAR 0 to 30
Gypsum: occurs in some pedons
Reaction: slightly to very strongly alkaline

C or B horizons
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 7, dry or moist
Chroma: 1 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: clay, silty clay, clay loam
Salinity: EC 0 to 16 (dS/m)
Gypsum: occurs in some pedons
Reaction: slightly to very strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bributte (WY), Emeo (T)(UT), and Daick (NV) series. Bributte soils are moist in the soil moisture control section during May and June and have a mean annual soil temperature of less than 50 degrees F. Daick soils have a hue of 2.5Y and yellower. Emeo soils have soil temperatures less than 55 degrees F. and SAR greater than 15.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Claysprings soils are on fan terraces of undulating plateaus, ridges, knobs, hills and canyon sideslopes. Slopes range from 0 to 65 percent. These soils formed in alluvium weathered from shale, siltstone and mudstone. Elevations range from 4,500 to 6,500 feet. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 5 to 10 inches. The mean annual air temperature is 52 to 57 degrees F. The frost-free period is 130 to 180 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Jocity and Tours soils. Jocity soils are fine-loamy and Tours soils are fine-silty.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, medium to rapid runoff, slow or very slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Claysprings soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is blue grama, galleta, alkali sacaton, western wheatgrass, and scattered juniper.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northeast Arizona, southwest Colorado, and northwest New Mexico. LRR D, MLRA 35. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Navajo County, Arizona; Holbrook - Showlow Area Soil Survey, 1961.

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

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 4 inches (A horizon)

Paralithic contact - the boundary at 18 inches (2Cr horizon)

Particle size control section the zone from 10 to 18 inches (C)

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eleventh Edition, 2010

Updates and revisions for MLRA consistency, February 2008, DWD.

Updated competing series January 2010, CEM.

Update and revisions for the correlation of Little Colorado River Area (AZ707), Sept. 2011, CEM

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.