LOCATION CUEVA NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Cueva channery loam, pinyon-juniper woodland. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise noted. When described on October 8th, 2004, and soil was moist from 0 to 30 inches and slightly moist below.) Surface has about 15 percent cover of channers and 5 percent flagstones.
A--0 to 2 inches; dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/3) channery loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and very fine roots; many fine pores; 15 percent channers and 5 percent flagstones; very slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
Bt1--2 to 6 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure parting to moderate fine subangular blocky; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; many fine and medium roots; very few fine pores; many distinct and prominent clay films on ped faces; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 15 inches thick)
Bt2--6 to 19 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/3) clay loam, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, moderately sticky and very plastic; few fine and medium roots; many fine and very fine pores; many distinct and prominent clay films on ped faces; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.3); clear smooth boundary.(5 to 15 inches thick)
Btk--19 to 33 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay loam, red (2.5YR 4/6) moist; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to strong medium subangular blocky; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and medium roots; very few fine pores; many distinct and prominent clay films on ped faces; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonates segregated as common irregularly shaped soft masses; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (10 to 16 inches thick)
Cd--33 to 43 inches; noncemented shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; about about 1 mile west-southwest of Glorieta, USGS Glorieta 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees, 34 minutes, and 43.92 seconds, Longitude 105 degrees, 46 minutes, and 47.66 seconds, NAD 83
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soil moisture control section is intermittently moist in some part from July to October and December to March. The soils are driest in May and June. The soil moisture regime is aridic ustic.
Soil temperature - 48 to 50 degrees F.
Thickness of ochric epipedon - 1 to 5 inches
Depth to calcareous material (as visible secondary calcium carbonate) - 12 to 25 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon - 20 to 40 inches
Densic Contact: 20 to 40 inches
Particle-size control section weighted averages
Silicate clay content: 35 to 50 percent
Sand content: 15 to 30 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 10 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent paragravel fragments of shale
Salinity: dS/m: 0 to 2
Sodicity: SAR: 0 to 4
A horizon
Hue: 2.5YR and 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 to 4, dry or moist
Clay content: 20 to 27 percent
Bt horizon
Hue: 2.5YR and 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Clay content: 35 to 45 percent
Texture: clay loam, clay
Btk horizons
Hue: 2.5YR and 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Clay content: 35 to 50 percent
Texture: clay loam, clay
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 3 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Durango, Erramouspe, Fikel, Hosta, Hualapai, Jacee, Montecito, Nogal, Paguate, Prater, Teco, Tinian, and Wilmac series. Durango, Fikel, Hosta, Montecito, Prater, and Teco soils are all deep or very deep to a bedrock contact. Erramouspe, Paguate, and Tinian soils are over a lithic contact. Hualapai soils do not have secondary calcium carbonates, are warmer, and are weathered from granite. Jacee, Nogal, and Wilmac soils have more yellow hues and in addition, the Jacee soil has a calcic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cueva soils are in the pion-juniper zone on , hills with slopes of 20 to 50 percent and elevations of 6,100 to 8,000 feet. The soils formed in sandstone and shale with stones, boulders, and rock outcrops occurring in some areas. Average annual precipitation is about 14 to 17 inches with the average temperature ranging from 46 to 48 degrees F. The climate is semiarid, continental with a frost-free period of about 120 to 140 days. The annual precipitation pattern is characterized by a marked summer maximum.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Atarque, Glorieta, and Ribera soils. The Atarque soils are shallow to sandstone bedrock on adjacent shoulders of hills. The Glorieta soils are very deep, have an abrupt textural change from the surface to the Bt horizon, and occur on footslopes and toeslopes of scarps and hills. The Ribera soils are fine-loamy, moderately deep to a lithic contact, and occur on summits of structural benches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; rapid runoff; very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat and watershed are the most important uses but some grazing and woodcutting is done in the accessible areas. The principal plants growing on these soils are twoneedle pion, oneseed juniper, Gambel oak, plains pricklypear, broom snakeweed, blue grama, and galleta.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern New Mexico. This series is of moderate 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 ESTABLISHED: Santa Fe County (Santa Fe Area), New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS:
Note: The classification was changed from an Argiustoll to a Haplustalf due to the absence mollic colors at the type location. The type location was also moved about a half mile from its original location to better typify the central concept of the soil
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.