LOCATION KARDE NM+TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, carbonatic, mesic Ustic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Karde loam - range. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated)
A1--0 to 4 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, many very fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; violently effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
AC--4 to 11 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; very weak coarse prismatic structure; soft, very friable; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)
C1--11 to 17 inches; light gray (2.5Y 7/2) loam, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) moist; structureless with few weak vertical cleavage planes; soft, friable; slightly sticky; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (4 to 15 inches thick)
C2--17 to 60 inches; light gray (5Y 7/2) clay loam, light olive gray (5Y 6/2) moist, structureless with few weak vertical cleavage planes; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; few, very fine roots in upper part; few very fine tubular pores; violently effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Harding County, New Mexico; 135 yards south and 270 yards east of the NW corner of section 29, T. 19 N., R. 29 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Clay content of the 10- to 40-inch particle-size control section ranges from 20 to 35 percent with less than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine sand. Calcium carbonate content of the upper 40 inches ranges from 40 to 70 percent. Soluble salt content is usually low to moderate but ranges to high and a saline phase is recognized.
The A and AC horizons have hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7 dry, and 4 through 6 moist, chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is loam, fine sandy loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 6 to 8 dry, and 5 to 7 moist, chroma of 1 to 4. Texture is loam, silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no directly competing series. Similar soils are the Dean, Drake, Manvel, Minnequa, Rance, Reeves, and Willard series in other families. Dean soils are fine-loamy and have a calcic horizon. Drake soils have a thermic temperature regime. Manvel and Willard soils average 40 percent or less calcium carbonate in the control section. Minnequa soils have a paralithic contact at depths of less than 40 inches. Rance and Reeves soils have gypsic mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Karde soils are in eolian deposits principally on the leeward side of dry or intermittent lakes (playas). Slope ranges 1 to 10 percent. The soils formed in silty and very fine sandy material that is quite uniformly high in calcium carbonate with local areas high in soluble salts as well. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 18 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 54 degrees F. The frost-free season ranges from 120 to 160 days and elevation ranges from 4,900 to 7,200 feet. Thornthwaite P-E Index is 26.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Church, Lofton and Vermejo soils and the competing Willard soils. Church, Lofton, and Vermejo soils have more than 35 percent clay in the series control section and have mixed mineralogy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is negligible on slopes less than 1 percent, very low on 1 to 3 percent slopes, low on 3 to 5 percent slopes, and medium on 5 to 8 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used exclusively for rangeland. Principal native plants are blue grama, bottlebrush squirreltail, sand dropseed, ring muhly, snakeweed, and where the soil is saline alkali sacaton, chamiza and wolfberry.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and northeastern New Mexico. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Harding County, New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 11 inches. (A and AC horizons)