LOCATION CUCHO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Cucho very gravelly clay loam--woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 2 inches; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) and very pale brown (10YR 7/4) very gravelly clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) and yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and few medium roots; 45 percent pebbles; slightly effervescent; mildly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)
C1--2 to 9 inches; light gray (5Y 7/2) clay loam, light olive gray (5Y 6/2) moist; massive; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few medium roots; slightly effervescent; neutral; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 7 inches thick)
C2--9 to 37 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) clay loam, olive (5Y 5/3) moist; massive; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; few medium roots in upper part; 50 percent soft weathered shale fragments at upper boundary grading to 90 percent at lower boundary; slightly effervescent; few irregular, segregations of calcium carbonates; mildly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (13 to 28 inches thick)
2Cr--37 to 60 inches; fractured shale.
TYPE LOCATION: Sandoval County, New Mexico; 1.5 miles east of state Highway 44 and 0.5 miles south of the Jemez-Zia Indian Reservations boundary. State Plane Coordinates are 1,711,750 feet north, and 303,420 feet east.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture - The soil moisture control section is moist in some part during the 120 days following the winter solstice and is moist in all parts less than 25 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inches is above 41 degrees F.
Soil Temperature: 52 to 54 degrees F.
Depth to the Cr horizon - 20 to 40 inches.
Particle-size control section - Clay Content: 18 to 35 percent.
Fine-sand and coarser: Less than 15 percent.
Calcium Carbonate Equivalent - 1 to 10 percent.
A horizon - Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR. Value: 6 or 7 dry.
C horizon - Hue: 5Y or 2.5Y. Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 or 6 moist. Chroma: 2 through 4. Texture: silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Coly and Crofton series and the closely related Camino (T), Menefee, Persayo, Sandoval (T), and Shingle series in other families. The Coly and Crofton soils are moist in all parts of the soil moisture control section more than 25 percent of the time when the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F. The Menefee, Persayo, Sandoval and Shingle soils are shallow. Camino soils have an aridic moisture regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Cucho soils formed in colluvium and are on cuestas and fan terraces. Slopes range from 15 to 70 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 14 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 50 to 52 degrees F. Elevation ranges from 5,200 to 7,300 feet. The frost-free period is 110 to 130 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Espiritu (T), Teco, and Vessilla (T) soils and the competing Menefee soil. The Espiritu and Teco soils are more than 40 inches to a lithic contact. Vessilla soils are shallow to sandstone.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; slowly permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Use is for livestock grazing. Vegetation is oneseed juniper and pinyon pine with mixed grasses and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northcentral New Mexico. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES PROPOSED: Sandoval County, New Mexico; 1984.
REMARKS: DIAGNOSTIC HORIZONS AND FEATURES RECOGNIZED IN THIS PEDON ARE:
Ochric Epipedon - The zone from the surface to a depth of 2 inches (A horizon).
Paralithic Contact - Fractured shale at a depth of 37 inches (Cr horizon).
Entisol Feature - Lack of diagnostic horizons (C1, C2 horizons).