LOCATION EMOT NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Emot gravelly fine sandy loam, range land. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate very fine and fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 15 percent rounded limestone gravel; very few fine roots; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
AC--4 to 11 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) gravelly very fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; 25 percent rounded limestone gravel; common very fine and fine roots; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH.8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 14 inches thick)
C--11 to 62 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 60 percent rounded limestone gravel and 5 percent rounded limestone cobble; few very fine, and fine roots; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0).
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; 700 feet west and 2.75 miles north of the intersection of Florida Avenue and Indian Wells Road, Alamogordo, New Mexico, SW 1/4 NW 1/4 sec. 5, T. 16 S., R. 10 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the moisture control section July through September and December through March. The soil is driest during April and May. Typic aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 59 to 63 degrees.
These soils have a thin layer at the surface that contains from 2 to 40 percent gravel (Desert pavement).
Control section: Rock fragments - 35 to 60 percent by volume and clay - 15 to 25 percent.
Depth to the skeletal material: greater than 10 inches.
A horizon
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry and 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4 dry and moist.
Texture: gravelly fine sandy loam or fine sandy loam with gravel content ranging from 10 to 30 percent by volume.
AC horizon
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry and 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4.
Texture: very fine sandy loam or gravelly very fine sandy loam with gravel content ranging from 10 to 30 percent by volume.
C horizon
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR.
Value: 5 through 7 dry and 4 or 5 moist, and chroma of 3 or 4.
Texture: very gravelly silt loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Canoto (NV), Canutio (TX), Cavespring (CA), Ogral (NM), Spellacy (CA), Storybook (AZ) and Yermo (CA). Canoto, Cavespring, Spellacy, Storybook and Yermo soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30), receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November. Canutio soils have more than 25 percent gravel and cobble in the upper 15 inches. Orgal soils have textures coarser than very fine sandy loam and have hue of 5YR or 7.5YR.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Emot soils are on broad alluvial pediment footslopes. Elevations range from 4,000 to 4,800 feet. These soils formed in mixed alluvial and colluvial deposits weathered mostly from Permian redbeds and limestone. The soils are in a hot and arid climate with annual precipitation ranging from 8 to 10 inches with most of this coming in June, July, and August. The mean January temperature is 43 degrees F; the mean July temperature is 80 degrees F.; the average annual temperature is 60 to 62 degrees F. The frost-free season is about 210 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Tome, Largo, and Stagecoach soils and the competing Ogral soils. Tome and Largo soils have fine-silty family control sections. Stagecoach soils have calcic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, urbanization, and limited irrigated cropland. Native vegetation is alkali sacaton, creosotebush, mesquite, Russian-thistle, and broom snakeweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Closed basin areas of south central New Mexico. The series is of small extent. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 42.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero Soil Survey Area, Otero County, New Mexico, 1976.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 11 inches (A and AC horizons).
Entisol feature - the lack of diagnostic subsurface horizons.
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999.