LOCATION DALIAN NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Dalian very gravelly sandy loam - rangeland (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 2 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate medium platy and weak fine crumb structure; soft and loose; 40 percent gravel with thin, discontinuous calcium carbonate coatings, mainly on gravel bottoms; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)
Ck1--2 to 5 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky with some fine crumb structure; soft and loose; many fine roots; 50 percent gravel with discontinuous calcium carbonate coatings primarily on undersides; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 9 inches thick)
Ck2--5 to 16 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, many fine roots; 50 percent gravel with thin continuous calcium carbonate coatings; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Ck3--16 to 25 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) very gravelly sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard; few fine roots; 55 percent gravel with thin discontinuous calcium carbonate coatings; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 15 inches thick)
Ck4--25 to 60 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; massive; soft and loose; few fine roots; 50 percent gravel with very thin discontinuous calcium carbonate coatings on the bottoms of gravel; crudely stratified laterally; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Dona Ana County, (Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project), New Mexico; north bank of arroyo; in the NW1/4 of section 22, T.21 S., R.3 E. 106 degrees, 37 minutes, 42 seconds west longitude; 32 degrees, 28 minutes, 20 seconds north latitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section for more than 20 days cumulative during the summer months and during December - April. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 59 to 72 degrees F.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: averages more than 40 percent in the Ck horizons
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist
Texture: Very gravelly sandy loam, very gravelly fine sandy loam, very cobbly fine sandy loam, gravelly loam
Ck horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist
Texture: Very gravelly sandy loam and very gravelly fine sandy loam with 35 to 60 percent rock fragment ranging in size from gravel to cobble.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Isom (UT) and Threelakes (NV) series. Isom soils contain gypsum. Threelakes soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30), receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Dalian soils are on alluvial fans and terraces. Slopes are commonly about 0 to 8 percent, ranging to steeper slopes of about 30 percent in some areas. The soils formed in gravelly sediments derived primarily or wholly from high carbonate rocks such as limestone and calcareous sandstone; in places, there are minor admixtures of such rocks as rhyolite, andesite, monzonite, or granite. Elevations range from 2,200 to 4,500 feet. Mean annual precipitation ranges from about 4 to 11 inches. Mean annual air temperature ranges from about 57 degrees to 70 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Caliza, Conger, Glendale, Headquarters, Reakor, Tencee, Upton and Weiser soils. Conger, Tencee, and Upton soils have petrocalcic horizons. Glendale soils are nongravelly and have silty clay loam or clay loam texture in the control section. Headquarters soils have argillic horizons. Reakor soils are nongravelly and have calcic horizons. Caliza and Weiser soils have calcic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. Vegetation is mainly creosotebush, with a few tarbush and mesquite in some areas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New Mexico. Dalian soils are of moderate extent. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 42.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dona Ana County, (Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project), New Mexico; 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons
This series represents an identified soil within the Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. The project was a study of soils and geomorphology in an arid and semi-arid environment. The series is extensively referenced in many documents, publications and thesis. Revision outside the project area is discouraged in order to preserve the historical concept for research.
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999.
When the competing series section was updated in September 2001, questions were raised about the description and/or the classification of this series. It was suggested that this soil should classify in the great group of Haplocambids or Haplocalcids. A field study of the type location is recommended to resolve the questions.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Data from pedon S66NM-7-4 (L.H. Gile and R. B. Grossman. 1979. The Desert Project Soil Monograph. Document PB80-135304. National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.) supports the classification. The typifying pedon is similar to the sampled pedon.