LOCATION JARITA NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Pachic Argiustolls
TYPIFYING PEDON: Jarita silt loam, range and wooded. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 4 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; moderate fine granular structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; many fine interstitial pores with common fine vesicular pores in the upper one inch; noncalcareous; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
B21t--4 to 9 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium prismatic parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; common fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; few thin clay films on vertical ped surfaces, sand grains, and in pores; noncalcareous; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
B22t--9 to 28 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) silty clay loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse prismatic parting to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; few thin clay films sand grains and pore linings; 5 percent cobble, few stones; noncalcareous with moderately calcareous spots near few fine, soft lime concretions in the lower 3 inches; mildly alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (13 to 20 inches thick)
R--28 inches; slightly fractured limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; about 4,000 feet northeast of Washpan Tank in the center of the NE1/4 SW1/4 sec. 34, T.13S., R.16E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The solum is 20 to 40 inches thick, with limestone bedrock at depths of 20 to 40 inches. Coarse fragments in the control section range from 5 to 35 percent increasing from the surface with depth. Average annual soil temperature ranges from 47 degrees to 59 degrees F. These soils are usually dry for more than 90 cumulative days but less than 60 consecutive days in the section from 4 to 12 inches. The periods between October and June are the driest. The solum ranges from neutral to mildly alkaline, increasing in alkalinity from the surface downward. The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 through 5 dry and 2 through 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. The B2t horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5 dry and 2 or 3 moist and chroma of 2 through 3 dry or moist. It is silty clay loam or clay loam containing 18 to 35 percent clay. The carbonates in the lower part of the B2t horizon range from nonvisible finely divided to weak soft lime concretions and thin lime mycelia, increasing with depth. The carbonate equivalent ranges from 5 to 12 percent.
COMPETING SERIES AND THEIR DIFFERENTIAE: These are the Cedaredge, Dillinger, Eastonville, Garret, Haxton, Keya, Kuma, Prosper, Marydel, Rinconada, Sampson, Table Mountain, and Woodly series. None of these soils has bedrock between 20 and 40 inches of the surface.
SETTING: The Jarita soils are on gently sloping to moderately steep ridge tops, crests, and saddles of low rolling limestone hills at elevations of 5,800 to 7,000 feet. The parent material is mainly from limestone. These soils occur in semiarid climate. Mean annual precipitation is about 15 to 17 inches with a summer maximum. Mean annual temperature is about 45 degrees to 57 degrees F.
PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gaines and Deama soils. Deama soils are lithic and do not have argillic epipedons. Gaines soils have annual temperatures less than 47 degrees F. and have mollic horizons 16 or more inches thick.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; medium runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native range and watershed. Principal native vegetation is blue grama, black grama, ring muhly, cholla and scattered pinyon-juniper trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Low rolling foothills adjoining mountainous areas of south central New Mexico; the series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero County (Mescalero-Apache Area), New Mexico, 1970.