LOCATION EL RANCHO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: El Rancho silt loam--on a toeslope sloping 3 percent to the northwest at 6,330 feet elevation--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described, the soil was dry throughout.)
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure parting to weak very fine granular; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and many very fine roots; few very fine irregularly shaped pores; common 1 to 2 mm wide cracks; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
Bw1--3 to 11 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; common 1 to 2 mm wide cracks; very few faint clay films on faces of peds; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
Bw2--11 to 24 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few thin lenses of very fine sandy loam and few laminae of silt; few 1 to 2 mm wide cracks lined with prominent reddish brown clay films; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 14 inches thick)
Bw3--24 to 38 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, few fine, and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few thin lenses of very fine sandy loam, few laminae of silt, and one thin lens of gravelly loamy sand; few 1 to 2 mm wide cracks lined with prominent reddish brown clay films; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary. (13 to 29 inches thick)
BC--38 to 53 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; common thin lenses of very fine sandy loam; few 1 to 5 mm wide cracks lined with prominent reddish brown clay films; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (7 to 19 inches thick)
C1--53 to 85 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; few thin lenses and laminae of very fine sandy loam; few 2 to 5 mm wide cracks lined with prominent reddish brown clay films; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (11 to 32 inches thick)
C2--85 to 120 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) silty clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few thin lenses and laminae of very fine sandy loam; 2 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2).
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; on the Tesuque Indian Reservation about 0.25 mile east of Camel Rock; 650 feet south and 1,850 feet east of the northwest corner of section 3, T.18N., R.9E.; USGS Tesuque 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees 49 minutes 30 seconds North and Longitude 105 degrees 58 minutes 31 seconds West, NAD 27.
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 ustic aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 52 to 54 degrees F.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 33 to 46 inches
Cracks - few to common, 1 to 5 mm wide, commonly lined with cutans of clay and silt
Lithology of fragments: granite, gneiss, schist, or limestone
Volcanic glass content: 5 to 15 percent in the coarse silt plus sand fraction
Particle-size control section (weighted averages)
Silicate clay content: 18 to 35 percent
Sand content: 15 to 50 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 5 to 10 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel.
Mica content: 1 to 5 percent (by grain count)
Reaction - moderately alkaline in the surface; moderately alkaline to strongly alkaline in the subsoil and substratum
Salinity, mmhos/cm - 0 to 1 in the surface; 0 to 4 in the subsoil and substratum
Sodicity, SAR - 0 to 1 in the surface; 0 to 4 in the subsoil and substratum
A horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Bw horizons
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, or very fine sandy loam; some pedons have thin strata, lenses, or laminae of textures ranging from silt to gravelly loamy sand
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 2 to 10 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
Some pedons are slightly saline with electrical conductivities of 4 to 8 mmhos/cm
BC horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam; some pedons have thin strata, lenses, or laminae of textures ranging from silt to gravelly loamy sand
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 2 to 10 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
Some pedons are slightly saline with 4 to 8 mmhos/cm
C horizons
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: stratified silty clay loam to gravelly sandy loam
Rock fragments: 0 to 15 percent gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 2 to 8 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline
Some pedons are slightly saline with 4 to 8 mmhos/cm
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Alicia(NM),
Menoken(CO),
Ruinpoint(UT), and
Senlar(WY) (T) series.
Alicia soils are drier in the soil moisture control section during time periods between December and March and have significant accumulation of calcium carbonate within Bk horizons.
Menoken soils are moderately deep to soft bedrock.
Ruinpoint soils are moist for longer periods of time between December and March, and have cambic horizon bases less than 20 inches from the surface.
Senlar soils have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, have cambic horizon bases less than 29 inches, and are drier between July and October.
In addition, all of these soils do not have significant amounts of mica in silt and sand fractions.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: El Rancho soils are on treads of fan remnants. They formed in alluvium derived from Tertiary micaceous siltstone, sandstone, and mudstone. Slopes are 1 to 3 percent. Elevation ranges from 5,500 to 6,700 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 9 to 12 inches with about 45 percent falling as rain from high-intensity convective thunderstorms between July and September. The mean annual air temperature is 50 to 52 degrees F. The frost-free period is 150 to 170 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Innacutt, Koshare, Quarteles, and Walkibout soils. Innacutt soils are coarse-loamy, do not have diagnostic surface and subsurface horizons, and occur on inset fans and narrow flood plains of gulches. Koshare soils are coarse-loamy and occur on toeslopes. Quarteles soils are loamy, very shallow to soft bedrock, do not have diagnostic subsurface horizons, and occur on backslopes of ridges and hills. Walkibout soils are coarse-silty, do not have diagnostic subsurface horizons, and occur on side slopes of gulches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low surface runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: El Rancho soils are used for urban development, livestock grazing, irrigated cropland, and recreation. The historic climax vegetation is blue grama, black grama, broom snakeweed, galleta, and ring muhly. The ecological site is Loamy(R036XB112NM). Irrigated crops are alfalfa, corn, squash, chile, and pasture grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: El Rancho soils are of small extent on the southeastern Espanola Basin part of the Basin and Range province in northcentral New Mexico. The MLRA is 36.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Santa Fe County (Santa Fe Area), New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 3 inches. (A horizon)
Cambic horizon - The zone from 3 to 38 inches. (Bw1, Bw2, and Bw3 horizons)
The 11/2006 revision moves the type location to the typical pedon used in the update survey of the Santa Fe Area. The series range in characteristics was re-written to comprise only the soils in the Santa Fe update survey; these soils were proposed in 1996 as the Ulando series, before being dropped and correlated with El Rancho in 2006. When established the El Rancho series was classified as fine-loamy, mixed (calcareous), mesic Ustic Torriorthents.
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.