LOCATION FIZZLEFLAT TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, carbonatic, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Fizzleflat loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 3 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak medium platy parting to weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; many very fine and fine roots throughout; many distinct continuous white (10YR 8/1) calcium carbonate coatings on rock fragments; 5 percent subangular limestone fragments 2 to 20 mm in diameter, and 2 percent subangular chert fragments 2 to 20 mm in diameter; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary (2 to 10 inches thick).
Bk1--3 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) gravelly clay loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm; many very fine, fine, and medium roots throughout; many distinct continuous white (10YR 8/1) calcium carbonate coatings on rock fragments; 15 percent subangular limestone fragments 2 to 20 mm in diameter, 5 percent subangular limestone fragments 20 to 75 mm in diameter, 2 percent subrounded chert fragments 2 to 20 mm in diameter, and 3 percent angular limestone channers; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary.
Bk2--16 to 24 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) gravelly loam, brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; common fine and medium roots throughout; common coarse and very coarse irregular very pale brown (10YR 8/3) slightly hard masses of calcium carbonate and common very coarse and extremely coarse plate-like pale yellow (2.5Y 8/3) slightly hard calcium carbonate nodules throughout; calcium carbonate nodules are weathered, soft limestone fragments that would slake in water; many distinct continuous white (10YR 8/1) calcium carbonate coatings on rock fragments; 15 percent subangular limestone fragments 2 to 20 mm in diameter; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary (combined thickness of Bk horizons is 18 to 30 inches).
Crk--24 to 60 inches; weathered marly limestone bedrock; weakly cemented; many distinct continuous white (10YR 8/1) calcium carbonate coatings in fractures; violently effervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Brewster County, Texas; from the junction of US Highway 90 and Texas Highway 118 in Alpine, 41.1 miles south on Texas Highway 118, 0.1 mile west on ranch road, 0.5 mile south-southwest on ranch road, 525 feet north of road in range. (Latitude: 29 degrees, 47 minutes, 37 seconds north; Longitude: 103 degrees, 35 minutes, 0 seconds west; NAD 1927). Buck Hill USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to a paralithic contact: 20 to 40 inches
Total clay content particle size control section: 25 to 40 percent
Silicate clay content: 20 to 35 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 40 to 60 percent
Coarse fragments of limestone, shale, and chert: 0 to 25 percent
Soil moisture: Ustic aridic moisture regime.
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 5 to 7, dry or moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam
Clay content: 18 to 30 percent
Limestone and chert fragments: 0 to 15 percent
Bw horizon (where present)
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 6 or 7, dry or moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam, silty clay loam
Clay content: 25 to 40 percent
Limestone and chert fragments: 0 to 25 percent
Some pedons have 5 to 25 percent shale fragments that will slake in water
Bk horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 5 to 7, dry or moist
Chroma: 3 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: loam, clay loam
Total clay content: 25 to 40 percent
Limestone and shale pebbles: 0 to 25 percent
Crk horizon:
It is weakly to moderately cemented weathered limestone or shale bedrock.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Armesa (NM), Cesario (TX), and Karro (AZ) series. Armesa soils are inactive. Karro soils do not have a paralithic contact within 60 inches of the soil surface. Cesario soils have shale bedrock between depths of 40 and 80 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Fizzleflat soils are on nearly level to very gently sloping upland plains and pediments. These soils formed in residuum and pedisediment derived from the Cretaceous Pen Clay Formation. Slopes range from 1 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 10 to 14 inches, with most occurring in the summer months. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 64 to 68 degrees F. Frost-free period is 210 to 260 days. Elevation ranges from 3,500 to 5,000 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cesario, Cheosa, Loyplace, Mariscal, and Straddlebug series. Cesario soils are deep to shale bedrock. They are on similar upland plains and pediments. Cheosa soils are very shallow and shallow to a cemented conglomerate petrocalcic horizon, and have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Cheosa soils are higher in the landscape on hillcrests underlain by the Jeff Conglomerate member of the Pruett Formation. Loyplace soils are very shallow and shallow to a petrocalcic horizon and are moderately deep to a paralithic contact. They are on slightly higher, footslope landforms. Mariscal soils are very shallow and shallow to Boquillas Flags limestone bedrock located on adjacent hills. Straddlebug soils are very deep, loamy soils lower in the landscape on alluvial flats and floodplains. They formed in zeolitic alluvium derived from tuffaceous formations.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate above the slowly permeable shale bedrock. Runoff is low on 1 to 3 percent slopes, and medium on 3 to 5 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used for livestock grazing. Woody species in the overstory include creosotebush, tarbush, mariola, wolfberry, allthorn, broom snakeweed, and ratany. Grass species consist of burrograss, tobosagrass, bush muhly, plains bristlegrass, and fluffgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Trans-Pecos Texas in the Southern Desertic Basins, Plains, and Mountains (MLRA 42), Desert Grassland Vegetative Zone. The soil is of minor extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Brewster County, Texas 1997. The name is taken from Fizzle Flat located south of the type location.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon The zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)
Calcic horizon The zone from 3 to 24 inches (Bk1 and Bk2 horizons)
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 24 inches (Crk horizon).
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Update and revision for Recorrelation of Brewster County, TX, Main Part, 2/8/08, CEM