LOCATION CONDESA NMTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Petrocalcic Paleustalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Condesa loam--on a planar summit sloping 5 percent to the west-southwest at 7,490 feet elevation pinyon-juniper forestland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.
A--0 to 2 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and many very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 5 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
Bt1--2 to 5 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic, many fine and few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few faint clay films on faces of peds; 3 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary.
Bt2--5 to 10 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; few medium, many fine, and few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few distinct and many faint clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 6.8); clear smooth boundary.
Bt3--10 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic, many fine and few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent pebbles; neutral (pH 7.2); clear wavy boundary. (combined thickness of the Bt horizon is 10 to 20 inches)
Btk--16 to 24 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 10 percent pebbles; violently effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as common medium irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 11 inches thick)
Bkkm--24 to 27 inches; petrocalcic horizon, thin laminar cap, strongly cemented
2Cr--27 to 37 inches; moderately cemented sandstone bedrock
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; about 4.5 miles south-southwest of Glorieta on Fangio Mesa; 2000 feet east and 2050 feet north of the southwest corner of section 20, T.16N., R.11E.; USGS Glorieta 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees 31 minutes 15 seconds North and Longitude 105 degrees 47 minutes 54 seconds West, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Typically, the soil moisture control section is moist in all parts during the 60 days following the winter solstice. It is moist in some part less than 40 percent and moist in all parts less than 25 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inches is above 41 degrees F. The soils are driest in May and June. The soil moisture regime is aridic ustic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 48 to 50 degrees F.
Depth to calcareous material - 9 to 16 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon - 20 to 37 inches
Depth to calcic horizon - 9 to 18 inches
Depth to petrocalcic horizon - 20 to 37
Depth to paralithic contact - 24 to 40 inches
Salinity, dS/m - 0 to 1
Sodicity, SAR - 0 to 1
Particle-size control section weighted averages:
Silicate clay content: 20 to 30 percent
Sand content: 35 to 55 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 25 to 35 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 15 percent pebbles, lithology of fragments is sandstone.
A horizon
Hue - 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value - 3 or 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma - 2 or 3, dry or moist
Rock fragments - 5 to 15 percent pebbles
Bt horizon
Hue - 7.5YR or 10YR
Value - 3 to 5 dry, 2 to 4 moist
Chroma - 1, to 4, dry or moist
Texture - loam or clay loam
Rock fragments - 3 to 10 percent pebbles
Btk horizon
Hue - 5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value - 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma - 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture - loam, clay loam, or gravelly loam
Rock fragments - 5 to 20 percent pebbles
Calcium carbonate equivalent - 15 to 25 percent
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Condesa soils are on lower areas on summits of mesas and plateaus. They formed in eolian deposits derived from sandstone and shale over residuum weathered from Triassic and Permian age sandstone. Slopes are 2 to 6 percent. Elevation ranges from 6,500 to 8,100 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 14 to 16 inches with about 45 percent falling as rain from high-intensity convective thunderstorms between July and September. The mean annual air temperature is 46 to 48 degrees F. The frost-free period is 120 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Margosa, Sabroso, and Verano soils. Margosa soils are loamy, have a mollic epipedon, and occur on adjacent higher areas on summits. Sabroso soils are loamy-skeletal, are very deep, and occur on steep south-facing backslopes. Verano soils are loamy-skeletal, have a mollic epipedon, and occur on steep north-facing backslopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low surface runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Condesa soils are used for cordwood products and livestock grazing. Present vegetation is twoneedle pinyon, oneseed juniper, and Rocky Mountain juniper with an understory of datil yucca, pine muhly, junegrass, and blue grama
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Condesa soils are of small extent on the northern Glorieta Slope part of the Pecos Valley section of the Great Plains physiographic province in northcentral New Mexico. The MLRA is 70A.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES PROPOSED: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; Santa Fe Area Soil Survey Update; 2000. Condesa is a place name.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 0 to 2 inches. (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - 2 to 24 inches. (Bt horizons)
Calcic horizon - 16 to 24 inches. (Btk horizon)
Petrocalcic horizon - 24 to 27 inches. (Bkkm horizon)
Pale feature - A petrocalcic horizon within 150 cm of the surface.
Paralithic contact - 27 inches. (top of Cr layer)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: The series type location has been sampled for the National Soil Survey Laboratory (NSSL), Lincoln, NE, as soil survey sample number S99NM-049-9. Reference analyses such as particle-size distribution, organic carbon content, and cation exchange capacity are being performed.