LOCATION DALEROSE           CO
Established Series
Rev. LAN-RVS-ACT
02/2008

DALEROSE SERIES


The Dalerose series consists of soils that are very shallow and shallow to hard sandstone bedrock. The are well drained moderately permeable soils that formed in slope alluvium and residuum derived from sandstone. Dalerose soils are on ridges and scarps slopes in the plains. Slope ranges from 3 to 30 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haplustolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Dalerose gravelly fine sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 5 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 20 percent pebbles; 5 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)

Bk--5 to 10 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 5 percent cobbles and 25 percent pebbles; 10 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); abrupt irregular boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)

R--10 inches; hard sandstone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Las Animas County, Colorado, about 1,600 feet west and 2,500 feet south of the northeast corner of Sec. 21, T., 34 S., R. 53 W.; Dennis Canyon USGS quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees, 4 minutes, 7 seconds north, longitude 103 degrees, 21 minutes, 30 seconds west.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Ustic moisture regime bordering on aridic. Moist intermittently in some part April through August. Driest December through February.

Mean annual soil temperature: 50 to 54 degrees F.
Mean summer soil temperature: 68 to 74 degrees F.
Depth to lithic contact: 6 to 20 inches
Depth to secondary calcium carbonate: 0 to 10 inches

The particle-size control section:
Rock fragment content: 0 to 35 percent
Clay content: 5 to 18 percent clay
Sand content: 40 to 70 percent
Silt content: 12 to 55 percent

A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 7 percent
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline.

Bk horizon; (AC horizon in some pedons)
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: gravelly loam, loam, gravelly sandy loam
Clay content: 5 to 18 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 15 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Altezita (T NM), Apache (NM), Hedville (KS),and Sogn (KS) series. Potential competitors were superactive cation exchange activity class assigned are Purner (AZ), Santana (NM), and Venezia (AZ) series.

Altezita soils: receive significant amounts of winter precipitation.
Apache soils: have lithic contact over basalt and average more than 18 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
Hedville soils: do not have free carbonates above the bedrock.
Sogn soils: have soil moisture control sections that are moist in some or all parts more than twice as long when the soil temperature is above 41 degrees F. and average 20 to 35 percent clay in the particle size control section.
Purner soils: have hue of 2.5YR or 5YR
Santana soils: have soil temperature of 50 to 54 degrees F. and have higher clay content in the particle size control section.
Venezia soils: do not have free carbonates above the bedrock.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: slope alluvium and residuum derived from sandstone.
Landform: plains ridges and scarps.
Slope: 3 to 30 percent. .
Elevation: 5,000 to 6,000 feet.
Mean annual air temperature: 50 to 54 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 14 to 17 inches:

Frost-free period: 120 to 155 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Apache, Ayon, Capulin, Chacuaco (T), Travesilla, and Villegreen (T) series.
Apache soils: on summits and backslopes of adjacent basalt flows and lava plateaus.
Ayon and Capulin soils: do not have bedrock above 40 inches and generally are on fans and ridges.
Chacuaco soils: have a lithic contact at depths of 20 and 40 inches.
Travesilla soils: do not have a mollic epipedon and are on scarps.
Villegreen soils: have a lithic contact at depths of 20 to 40 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff is very high; moderate permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for livestock grazing. Principal native vegetation is blue grama, sideoats grama, and little bluestem, oneseed juniper, and Gambel's oakbrush.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Dalerose soils occur in southeastern Colorado. LRR G, MLRA's 67 and 70. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES PROPOSED: Las Animas County, Colorado, 1986. The name is from a mesa in southeastern Las Animas County. Last updated by the state 12/89.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Mollic epipedon: 0 to 10 inches. (A and Bk horizons)
Lithic contact: bedrock at 10 inches. (R horizon)

Taxonomic Version: Second Edition, 1999

ADDITIONAL DATA: Laboratory data number S99CO-071-003


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.