LOCATION KACHINA NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Kachina fine sandy loam--on a planar to slightly convex toeslope of a ridge sloping 9 percent to the east at 6,510 feet elevation--woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described, the soil was dry throughout.)
A--0 to 3 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) fine sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak medium platy structure parting to weak fine granular; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; few very fine irregularly shaped pores; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear smooth boundary. (2 or 3 inches thick)
Bk1--3 to 7 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium and moderate fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, common fine, and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine irregularly shaped pores; very few faint clay bridges between sand grains; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds and on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bk2--7 to 19 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) sandy clay loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, common fine, and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few 1 cm diameter cicada larvae burrows; very few faint clay bridges between sand grains; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as common fine irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds and on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 13 inches thick)
Bk3--19 to 26 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse and moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, few fine, and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few 1 cm diameter cicada larvae burrows; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as common fine irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds and on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (7 to 20 inches thick)
BCk1--26 to 36 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few 1 cm diameter cicada larvae burrows; common thin strata of gravelly coarse sandy loam; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine and medium irregularly shaped coats on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (8 to 18 inches thick)
BCk2--36 to 48 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and common very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; few 1 cm diameter cicada larvae burrows; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds and on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 22 inches thick)
BCk3--48 to 59 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, moderately sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and few very fine roots; few fine and common very fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on faces of peds and on rock fragments; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 16 inches thick)
BCk4--59 to 84 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) fine sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and few very fine roots; few fine and few very fine tubular pores; few thin strata of gravelly loamy sand and few thin lenses of gravelly coarse sand; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (14 to 26 inches thick)
BCk5--84 to 102 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) very fine sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (0 to 18 inches thick)
BCk6--102 to 120 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; common thin strata of very fine sandy loam; 30 percent gravel; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonate segregated as few fine irregularly shaped coats on rock fragments; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6).
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; on the Tesuque Indian Reservation about 1.25 miles southwest of Tesuque Pueblo; 1,800 feet north and 2,500 feet east of the southwest corner of section 16, T.18N., R.9E.; USGS Tesuque 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees 47 minutes 17 seconds North and Longitude 105 degrees 59 minutes 28 seconds West, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soil moisture control section is moist in all parts during the 60 days following the winter solstice. It is moist in some part less than 40 percent and moist in all parts less than 25 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inches is above 41 degrees F. The soils are driest in May and June. The soil moisture regime is ustic bordering on aridic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 50 to 52 degrees F.
Depth to base of cambic horizon - 23 to 46 inches
Lithology of rock fragments: granite, gneiss, and schist
Reaction - slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline in the surface; moderately alkaline in the subsoil; moderately alkaline to strongly alkaline in the substratum
Salinity, mmhos/cm - 0 to 1 in the surface and subsoil; 0 to 4 in the substratum
Sodicity, SAR - 0 to 1 in the surface and subsoil; 0 to 4 in the substratum
Particle-size control section (weighted averages)
Silicate clay content: 18 to 27 percent
Sand content: 40 to 60 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 20 to 40 percent
Rock fragment content: 5 to 15 percent gravel.
Mica content: 1 to 5 percent (by grain count)
A horizon
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist
Rock fragments: 5 to 15 percent gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 4 to 10 percent
Bk horizons
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: loam, sandy clay loam, or fine sandy loam, or very fine sandy loam
Rock fragments: 5 to 15 percent gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 4 to 10 percent
Upper BCk horizons
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: loam, sandy loam, or fine sandy loam; some pedons have texture of very fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, or silt loam; some pedons have few to common, thin strata or lenses of gravelly coarse sandy loam, gravelly sandy loam, or gravelly loamy sand
Rock fragments: 5 to 10 percent gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 4 to 10 percent
Lower BCk horizons
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, gravelly sandy loam, gravelly sandy clay loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Rock fragments: 5 to 30 percent gravel
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 2 to 8 percent
Other features: some pedons have few to common, thin strata or lenses of gravelly loamy sand or gravelly coarse sand; some pedons have 25 to 50 percent soft sandstone, siltstone, or mudstone (pararock) fragments over paralithic contacts below 80 inches
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Atchison(KS) (T), Berthoud(OK), Mcrae, Sixmile, Teromote(NM), and Ziggy(WY) (T) series. Atchison, Berthoud, Sixmile and Ziggy soils are moist in some part of the soil moisture control section in May and June. In addition, Atchison soils contain less than 5 percent rock fragments. Cibeque soils have calcic horizons within 40 inches and should be reclassified into the Haplocalcidic subgroup. Sixmile soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Teromote soils have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y and contain less than 5 percent rock fragments. Mcrae and Ziggy soils have mean annual soil temperatures less than 50 degrees F. and have hue yellower than 7.5YR.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kachina soils are on toeslopes of ridges and hills. They formed in alluvium derived from Tertiary micaceous sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and fanglomerate. Slopes are 5 to 15 percent. Elevation ranges from 5,600 to 7,800 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 14 inches with about 45 percent falling as rain from high-intensity convective thunderstorms between July and September. The mean annual air temperature is 48 to 50 degrees F. The frost-free period is 140 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Levante, Sipapu, and Yuzarra soils. Levante soils are sandy, do not have diagnostic horizons, and occur on flood plains of valley floors. Sipapu soils are loamy, very shallow to soft bedrock, and occur on adjacent backslopes of ridges and hills. Yuzarra soils are sandy-skeletal, moderately deep to soft bedrock, and occur on narrow, beveled summits and shoulders.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium surface runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Kachina soils are used for urban development, livestock grazing, and recreation. The historic climax vegetation is little bluestem, true mountain mahogany, sideoats grama, eriogonum, oneseed juniper, twoneedle pinyon. The ecological site is Pinus edulis-Juniperus monosperma/Cercocarpus montanus-Chrysothamnus nauseosus/Bouteloua gracilis(F036XB135NM)..
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Kachina soils are of small extent on the southeastern Espanola Basin part of the Basin and Range province in northcentral New Mexico. The MLRA is 36.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; Santa Fe Area Soil Survey Update; 2008. Kachina is a name taken from the Kachina dolls.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 3 inches. (A horizon)
Cambic horizon - The zone from 3 to 26 inches. (Bk1, Bk2, and Bk3 horizons)
Particle-size control section - The zone from 10 to 40 inches (part of the Bk2, the Bk3, BCk1, and part of the BCk2 horizon)
Series control section - The zone from 0 to 60 inches.
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.