LOCATION COURTHOUSE AZ+NM TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic, shallow Ustic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Courthouse stony fine sandy loam - rangeland (colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
A--0 to 3 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) stony fine sandy loam, dark red (2.5YR 3/6) moist; weak medium and thick platy structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; few very fine and fine irregular pores; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear wavy boundary (1 to 5 inches thick).
C--3 to 9 inches; light red (2.5YR 6/6) very gravelly fine sandy loam, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; moderate medium and thick platy structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine roots; common medium tubular pores; 40 percent .5 to 6 inch hard weathered platy fragments of sandstone; strongly to violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary (5 to 9 inches thick).
Cr--9 to 14 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) weathered sandstone with fine sandy loam material in fractures and seams, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; common fine and medium roots in fractures and seams; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary.
R--14 inches; red (2.5YR 5/6) extremely hard calcareous sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Yavapai County, Arizona; Northwest quarter of section 24, T. 16 N., R. 5 E.; one mile south and .75 mile west of the intersection of Forest Roads 216A and 179.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September and December-February. Driest during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Rock fragments: Ranges from 30 to 50 percent; averages more than 35 percent
Depth to bedrock: 9 to 20 inches
Reaction: slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline
A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 2.5YR, 10R
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
C horizon
Hue: 5YR, 2.5YR, 10R
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 4 through 8 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, loam, sandy loam, clay loam
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Buckeer (TX) series. Buckeer soils have hue at 10YR and 2.5YR and do not have a lithic contact below the paralithic contact.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Courthouse soils are on uplands of the Sonoran Desert and have slopes of 1 to 50 percent. These soils formed in residuum weathered from Supai sandstone. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 16 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 57 to 66 degrees F. Elevations range from 3,000 to 6,500 feet. The frost-free period is 180 to 260 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cornville, Guest, Mescal, Penthouse, Rimrock, Schnebly and Tobler series. The Cornville, Penthouse, and Schnebly soils have argillic horizons. Guest soils are fine textured. Mescal, Rimrock, and Tobler soils do not have bedrock within 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderate to moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is a mixture of catclaw, mesquite, oak brush, loco weed, four-wing saltbush, snakeweed, and small amounts of Rothrock and sideoats grama.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: In central and southern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Texas. The series is of small extent. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRAs 38, 40 and 42. Use outside these MLRAs is not permitted.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Yavapai County, Arizona; Beaver Creek Area; 1965.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)
Paralithic contact: The boundary at 9 inches (Cr horizon)
Lithic contact: The boundary at 14 inches (R horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Updated competing series section 4/7/08, CEM