LOCATION IGNACIO NM+UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Ignacio fine sandy loam. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) fine sandy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; loose, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bw--4 to 16 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; slightly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (7 to 23 inches thick)
Bk--16 to 25 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; about 5 percent sandstone cobbles; slightly effervescent; calcium carbonate coatings on sandstone fragments; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 12 inches)
R--25 inches; sandstone bedrock; hard; 1/8 inch carbonate coating on surface.
TYPE LOCATION: Torrance County, New Mexico; SW 1/4, SW 1/4, NW 1/4 of Sec. 21, T 5 N, R 15 E. 105 degrees, 21 minutes, 11 seconds longitude; 34 degrees, 38 minutes, 39 seconds latitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the SMCS June through September and December through March. Ustic Aridic moisture regime.
Soil Temperature: 50 to 58 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock: 20 to 40 inches
A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand
B horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 3 through 6, dry or moist
Clay: 10 to 18 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: less than 15 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Begay (UT), Delvalle (NM), Kitsili (I)(NM), Koshare (NM), Ojito (NM), Parida (NM), Ranchos (T) (NM), Remmit (CO), and Turnback (WY) soils. Begay, Delvalle, Kitsili, Koshare, Parida, Ranchos, and Remmit soils are more than 40 inches to a lithic contact. Ojito and Turnback soils have a paralithic contact at 20 to 40 inches. In addition, Turnback soils are in the Western Great Plains (LRR-G) and are more moist in May and June. Kitsili soils are inactive.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ignacio soils are on sandsheets on mesas, hills, and ridges. The slopes range from 1 to 15 percent. The soils formed in eolian material weathered from sandstone. The mean annual air temperature is 48 to 56 degrees F. and the mean summer air temperature is 68 degrees F. Average annual precipitation ranges from 9 to 13 inches. Elevation ranges from 4,626 to 7,000 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Prewitt and Travessilla soils. Prewitt soils are deep, less than 20 inches to bedrock, and have mollic epipedons and are in swales.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Ignacio soils are used for range. Vegetation is sideoats grama, blue grama and sand dropseed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Ignacio soils are moderately extensive in Utah and New Mexico. MLRAs 35 and 39.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Canyonlands Area, Utah, 1983.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: the zone from 0 to 4 inches (A horizon)
Cambic horizon: the zone from 4 to 16 inches (Bw horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999, Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Updated competing series section.
Updated and revised for the correlation of Canyonlands National Park (UT688), October 2009, WWJ.