LOCATION KIMBROUGH               NM+TX

Established Series
Rev. RAH-RM-TCB
08/2016

KIMBROUGH SERIES

The Kimbrough series consists of soils that are very shallow to shallow to a petrocalcic horizon. They are well drained, calcareous, gravelly soils that formed in moderately fine textured eolian sediments of the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age. These soils are typically on gently sloping plains, narrow ridges, and side slopes along draws. The mean annual precipitation is 406 mm (16 in) and the mean annual temperature is 16 degrees C (61 degrees F). Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, superactive, thermic, shallow Petrocalcic Calciustolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Kimbrough gravelly loam, in rangeland at an elevation of about 1189 m (3,900 ft). (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A1--0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 in); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak thin platy structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; many fine irregular pores; about 15 percent of the surface covered with caliche fragments; 10 percent pebble size and 5 percent cobble size calcium carbonate fragments; strongly effervescent, calcium carbonate disseminated; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

A2--5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak granular and subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; many fine irregular pores; 20 percent pebble size and 10 percent cobble size calcium carbonate fragments; strongly effervescent, calcium carbonate is disseminated and occurs in threads and masses; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the A horizon is 8 to 50 cm [3 to 20 in].)

Bkkm--20 to 91 cm (8 to 36 in); white (N 8/) indurated layer containing a few fractures; laminar in upper part, with indurated to strongly cemented calcium carbonate with pea-shaped calcite structures (pisolites) below the laminae; becomes softer with depth; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (Thickness is 13 to 102 cm [5 to 40 in].)

Bkk--91 to 203 cm (36 to 80 in); white (10YR 8/1); massive; soft calcium carbonate soil material with a loam texture; 15 percent strongly cemented caliche fragments, 25 percent moderately cemented caliche fragments; most caliche fragments have a laminar cap 1 to 2 mm thick; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Lea County, New Mexico; From the intersection of New Mexico State Highway 83 and New Mexico State Highway 18 in Lovington; 5.3 miles southeast on New Mexico State Highway 18; 0.16 miles north east on oilfield road; 0.4 mile north on oilfield road, 0.4 mile east on oilfield road; 300 ft north in rangeland, SW of the SE of Section 30, Township 16 S., Range 37 E.; Latitude: 32 degrees, 53 minutes, 23 seconds N; Longitude: 103 degrees, 17 minutes, 22 seconds W; Lovington, New Mexico USGS quad; NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: An aridic moisture regime bordering on ustic. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 205 but less than 270 days, cumulative, in normal years. November through April normally are the driest months. These soils are intermittently moist in July through October.
Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 18 degrees C (59 to 64 degrees F).
Depth to petrocalcic horizon: 10 to 50 cm (4 to 20 in).
Particle-size control section: 15 to 20 percent silicate clay.
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in).

A horizons:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: loam, fine sandy loam, gravelly loam, gravelly fine sandy loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 0 to 5 percent
Effervescence: strong to violent
Reaction: slightly or moderately alkaline

Bkkm horizon:
This horizon ranges from fractured, indurated, and thin to thickly laminar to
continuously indurated, thickly laminar. Some pedons have indurated to
moderately cemented pea-shaped, calcite structures below the laminar caps
(pisolitic structure).

Bkk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 7 or 8 dry, 6 or 7 moist
Chroma: 1 to 4
Coarse fragments: 25 to 60 percent imbedded in soil matrix
Texture: loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: more than 40 percent
Effervescence: violent
Reaction: moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: There are no series in the same family. Similar soils include the Blakeney, Carbine, Conger, Espy, Eunice, Kenhill, Kimberson, Kolar, Lea, Ozona, Pitzer, Queeny and Stohman series.
Blakeney, Conger and Kolar soils: have lighter color values in the surface horizons and mixed minerology.
Carbine and Espy soils: have mixed minerology.
Eunice soils: have lighter color values in the surface horizons.Kenhill soils: have argillic horizons and have a petrocalcic horizon greater than 50 cm (20 in) below the soil surface.
Kimberson, Ozona, Pitzer and Queeny soils: are moist in the soil moisture control section for longer periods and have mixed mineralogy.
Lea soils: have a petrocalcic horizon greater than 50 cm (20 in) below the soil surface.
Stohman soils: have lighter surface colors and are moist in the soil moisture control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loamy eolian deposits from the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age over a layer of indurated caliche.
Landform: nearly level to very gently sloping plains.
Slopes: 0 to 3 percent.
Mean annual air temperature: 14 to 17 degrees C (57 to 63 degrees F).
Mean annual precipitation: 356 to 432 mm (14 to 17 in).
Frost-free period: 180 to 230 days.
Elevation: 762 to 1,463 m (2,500 to 4,800 ft).
Thornthwaite annual P-E Index Values: 20 to 26.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the similar Lea and Stegall series and also the Masker and Zita series.
Lea soils: on similar landscapes and have a ochric epipedon.
Mansker soils: are on similar landscape positions and are very deep.
Stegall soils: are on similar landscapes and have an argillic horizon.
Zita soils: are on similar landscapes, have an argillic horizon, and are very deep.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained and moderate permeability. Runoff is low.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used nearly exclusively for rangeland. In the southern part of the distribution of this series, the climax vegetation includes sideoats grama, little bluestem, buffalograss, hairy grama, slim tridens, purple and wright threeawns, bushsunflower, gray goldaster, daleas, gayfeather, plains blackfoot, sundrops, catclaw, ephedra, hackberry, and javelinabrush. In the northern part of the distribution, the climax vegetation consists of blue grama, lack grama, sideoats grama, little bluestem, sand dropped, New Mexico feathergrass, galleta, catclaw, feather dahlia, dotted gayfeather, plains blackfoot, slim tridens, hairy grama, rock daisy, catclaw, and broom snakeweed.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern High Plains, Southern Part (MLRA 77D in LRR H); of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. The series is extensive.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lea County, New Mexico, (Reconnaissance Survey of Eastern New Mexico), 1936.

REMARKS: This is a Benchmark Series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Mollic epipedon: 0 to 20 cm (0 to 8 in). (A1, A2 horizons)
Petrocalcic horizon: 20 to 91 cm (8 to 36 in). (Bkkm horizon)
Calcic horizon: 91 to 203 cm (36 to 80 in). (Bkk horizon)

Taxonomic Version: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.