LOCATION GILLAND NM

Established Series
Rev. REN/BDS
12/2014

GILLAND SERIES

The Gilland series consists of moderately deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils. They formed in alluvial and colluvial deposits derived from red sandstone and calcareous shale on rolling hills and mountains and have slopes of 5 to 55 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 60 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Gilland stony loam, range (colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).

A--0 to 3 inches (0 to 8 cm); red (2.5YR 4/6) very gravelly loam, reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4), moist; 24 percent clay; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots throughout; few very fine tubular pores; carbonate, finely disseminated throughout; 25 percent gravel and 10 percent cobble and 5 percent stone; strongly effervescent, 13 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 7.9; electrical conductivity 1.2 dS/m (mmhos/cm); non-saline; abrupt smooth boundary.

Bk1--3 to 13 inches (8 to 33 cm); red (2.5YR 5/6) gravelly loam, red (2.5YR 4/6), moist; 25 percent clay; weak very fine and fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots throughout; few very fine tubular pores; common fine irregular carbonate masses throughout; 27 percent gravel; violently effervescent, 20 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 8.1; electrical conductivity 2.3 dS/m (mmhos/cm); very slightly saline; abrupt wavy boundary.

Bk2--13 to 20 inches (33 to 51 cm); red (2.5YR 5/6) extremely gravelly sandy clay loam, red (2.5YR 4/6), moist; 28 percent clay; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; common very fine roots throughout; few very fine tubular pores; common fine irregular carbonate masses throughout; 62 percent gravel; violently effervescent, 19 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 8.0; electrical conductivity 2.5 dS/m (mmhos/cm); very slightly saline; clear smooth boundary.

Bk3--20 to 28 inches (51 to 71 cm); red (2.5YR 5/6) extremely gravelly sandy clay loam, red (2.5YR 4/6), moist; 30 percent clay; weak very fine and fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, moderately sticky, moderately plastic; few very fine roots throughout; few very fine tubular pores; common fine irregular carbonate masses throughout; 80 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, 17 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 8.1; electrical conductivity 3.4 dS/m (mmhos/cm); very slightly saline; abrupt smooth boundary.

R--28 inches (71 cm); unweathered, unfractured, and indurated sandstone/shale bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Sierra County, New Mexico; White Sands Missile Range, about 5.35 miles south of the junction of Routes 16 and 5.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Sola thickness: 12 to 28 inches

Coarse fragments: 35 to 75 percent

Depth to the paralithic contact: 20 to 30 inches

Calcium carbonate: slightly to moderately calcareous in the A and Bk1 horizons and strongly calcareous in the Bk2 horizon

Depth to the calcic horizon: 3 to 26 inches

Mean annual soil temperature: 59 degrees to 66 degrees F.

Soil moisture: These soils are usually moist in some part between 7 and 20 inches more than one-quarter, but less than one-half the time the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F. at 20 inches. Ustic aridic moisture regime.

A horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry; 2 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6, dry or moist

Bk1 horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 5YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry; 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: loam, light clay loam
Clay content: 12 to 30 percent

Bk2 horizon
Hue: 2.5YR, 7.5YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry; 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6, dry or moist
Texture: stony sandy loam, stony clay loam
Calcium carbonate: 15 to 40 percent

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Chilicotal (TX), Gallen (NM), Polar (TX), Powerline (AZ) and Tombstone (AZ). Chilicotal, Gallen, Polar, and Tombstone soils are very deep. Powerline soils are moderately deep to sandy fanglomerate and have hues of 10YR. In addition, Gallen soils are in the Pecos- Canadian Plains and Valley; Polar soils are in the Central Rolling Red Plains; both soils are more moist in May and June.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Gilland soils are on rolling hills and mountains with slopes of 5 to 55 percent at elevations of 4,500 to 6,000 feet. The soils formed in alluvial and colluvial deposits derived from red sandstone and calcareous shale. Annual precipitation is about 10 to 14 inches with a summer maximum. The mean annual air temperature ranges from 57 degrees to 64 degrees F. The frost-free period is 180 to 240 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Holguin soils. Holguin soils have lithic contacts within depth of 20 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained, rapid runoff, moderate permeability

USE AND VEGETATION: Used primarily for military research and for grazing. Native vegetation is principally black grama, sideoats grama, hairy grama, cholla, and yucca.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central New Mexico. The series is of moderate extent (about 24,000 acres). MLRA 42.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Sierra County (White Sands Missile Range Area), New Mexico, 1970.

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

Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A horizon)

Calcic horizon - the zone from 20 to 28 inches (Bk2 horizon)

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

Updated competing series section 3/18/08, CEM

Revised for the correlation of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; October, 2014, NMS

The type location for the OSD is the same as the typical pedon found in map unit 29 in the White Sands Missile Range soil survey (NM688).. In the past, the Gilland type location was thought to be mesic instead of thermic. Since Gilland has not been used in any other survey, and since the original WSMR line work was never digitized, it has been reclassified to be Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Ustic Haplocalcids. The type location now resides in a solidly thermic area around Mockingbird Gap.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.