LOCATION CHUPADERA NM+UT

Established Series
Rev.HJM/LWH/AJM/CDH/WJG
12/2022

CHUPADERA SERIES

The Chupadera series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in eolian sands and residuum from limestone on rolling bedrock controlled uplands and on structural benches of plateaus. Slopes range from 1 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 13 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 50 F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Chupadera loamy fine sand, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loamy fine sand, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak very fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine interstitial pores; abundant very fine and fine roots; slightly effervescent; calcium carbonates disseminated; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)

Bk1--6 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; very weak medium subangular blocky structure; loose, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; calcium carbonates disseminated and as a few soft masses and in a few gravel size nodules; occasional limestone gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)

Bk2--16 to 24 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2); massive; loose, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; calcium carbonate segregated in fine to large gravel size hard nodules that increase with depth (10 percent in the upper part of the horizon increasing to 30 percent in the lower part); common limestone gravel often carbonate coated on the upper surface; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual irregular boundary. (6 to 12 inches)

R--24 to 34 inches; gray fractured, very strongly cemented limestone with white (10YR 8/1) lime coatings up to 3 inches thick; some fractures are filled with material like the Bk horizons and others are filled with carbonate; this grades to indurated limestone within 6 to 8 inches of the upper boundary.

TYPE LOCATION: Torrance County, New Mexico. .5 mile NE of Gran Quivia Ruins; 1300 feet north and 50 feet east of the southeast corner of Sec. 35, T.1N.,R.8E.; 106 degrees, 05 minutes, 01 seconds west longitude; 34 degrees, 16 minutes, 53 seconds north latitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in the soil moisture control section May through October and December through February. The soil moisture control section is moist for longer periods of time during the summer than the winter.

Soil temperature: 48 to 52 degrees
Depth to calcareous material (as visible secondary calcium carbonate): 8 to 20 inches
Depth to base of the calcic horizon: 21 to 40 inches
Depth to lithic contact: 20 to 40 inches

Particle-size control section weighted averages
Silicate clay content: 5 to 18 percent
Sand content: 60 to 70 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 45 to 55 percent
Rock fragment content: 1 to 10 percent, mixed lithology

A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5YValue: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: loamy fine sand and fine sandy loam
Bk1 horizon - Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y
Value: 5 or 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam
Bk2 horizon - Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y
Value: 5 or 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: loam, gravelly loam, fine sandy loam, or gravelly fine sandy loam (gravel content ranges from 10 to 30 percent)

COMPETING SERIES: These are Abracon ThumbRock(UT), Chroder (CO), Chugcity (WY), Cobbra (UT), Harvey (NM), Nala (NM), Abracon(UT), Chroder(CO), Chugcity(WY), Cobbra(UT), Milok(UT), Mivida(UT), Sazi(UT), and Yattle (CO). Abracon, Chroder, Cobbra (UT), Harvey, Milok, Mivida, Nala, and Yattle soils are all greater than 40 inches to a bedrock contact. ThumbRock soils have hues of 5YR or redder. Chugcity soils are 20 to 40 inches deep over a paralithic contact. Sazi soils have a cambic horizon, have hue of 5YR and 2.5YR, and typically contain less than 5 percent rock fragments. Abracon, Chroder, Cobbra, Harvey, Milok, Mivida, Nala, and Yattle soils are deeper than 40 inches to bedrock. Chugcity soils are moderately deep to paralithic contact.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chupadera soils formed on crests and sideslopes of rolling hills and on structural benches within undulating plateaus.. These soils formed in eolian sands and material weathered from limestone, sandstone, and shale withelevations ranging from 6,000 to 6,700 feet and slopes ranging from 1 to 15 percent. Average annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 15 inches. Average annual air temperature is 47 to 51 degrees. Frost free period is 120 to 160 days. In Carbon County, Utah this soil has been correlated with elevations as low as 5900 feet, air temperatures of 45 to 47 degrees F., precipitation as low as 11 inches, and a frost free period of 100 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Otero, Trail, Palma, and Pinon soils. Otero, Trail, and Palma are deep soils. Pinon soils are shallow to bedrock.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; very low to low surface runoff; moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Chupadera soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Present vegetation is blue grama, oneseed juniper, narrowleaf yucca, broom snakeweed, walkingstick cholla, whipple cholla, plains prickly pear, sand dropseed, and threeawn.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Chupadera soils are of small extent in the central and northcentral portions of New Mexico. MLRA 70C.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Torrance County, New Mexico (Torrance Area), 1965.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - surface to a depth of 6 inches (A horizon)
Calcic horizon - 16 to 24 inches (Bk horizons)
High organic matter feature - the organic carbon content meets the requirement of the old Ustollic subgroup, and have an Aridic soil moisture regime bordering on Ustic.

Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Lab Sample No. C65NMex-68-2(1-4)

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.