LOCATION KOLAR              NM
Established Series
Rev. RAH-RJA-ACT
07/1999

KOLAR SERIES


The Kolar series consists of soils that are shallow to a petrocalcic horizon. They are well drained, moderately rapidly permeable soils that formed in eolian and alluvial material. These soils are on hillslopes, mesas, and ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches and mean annual air temperature is about 59 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Ustic Petrocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Kolar very fine sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 4 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine granular structure; soft, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and very fine roots; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)

Bw--4 to 11 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and very fine roots; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

Bk--11 to 18 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) gravelly very fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; weak medium subangular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine and very fine roots; 25 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; many medium hard calcium carbonate nodules; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)

Bkm--18 inches; petrocalcic.

TYPE LOCATION: De Baca County, New Mexico; about 12 miles south of Taiban and one mile west; 2,250 feet south and 125 feet west of northeast corner, sec. 5, T. 1 S., R. 28 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the SMCS December through March and June through September.

Soil Temperature: 59 to 63 degrees F.

Depth to petrocalcic: 9 to 20 inches

Clay content control section: 9 to 18 percent

Organic carbon (Upper 16 inches): 0.77 to 1.0 percent

Fine sand and coarser: over 15 percent

A horizon:
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: fine sandy loam, loamy fine sand, very fine sandy loam

Bw horizon (where present):
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, very fine sandy loam
Where the Bw is not present, the Bk horizon is too thin to qualify for a calcic horizon.

Bk horizon:
Hue: 5YR to 10YR
Value: 5 to 8 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, gravelly very fine sandy loam
Coarse fragments: 10 to 35 percent

Bkm horizon:
Thickness and composition: most are over 1 foot thick and some have been noted 4 to 5 feet thick over highly calcareous alluvium that generally has sandy loam texture.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Blakeney (TX) and Conger (TX) series. Similar soils are the Jerag, Kimbrough, Simona, Upton, Veal, and Wink series. Blakeney soils have soil temperatures from 64 to 70 degrees F. Conger soils have 18 to 35 percent clay in the control section. Jerag soils have an argillic horizon. Kimbrough soils have a mollic epipedon. Simona, Upton and Wink soils are dry for more than 3/4 the time (typic/aridic). Veal soils do not have a petrocalcic horizon within 20 inches of the surface.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on high slopes, high mesas and ridges. They formed in alluvium and eolian deposits. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 12 to 15 inches and mean annual temperature ranges from 58 to 60 degrees F. The average frost-free season ranges from 180 to 200 days elevation ranges from 4,000 to 5,300 feet.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Chispa, Redona, and Neso soils. Chispa soils are deep and are on the sideslopes. Redona soils are deep and have an argillic and are in the large depressions. Neso soils are skeletal and carbonatic and are near the edge of the mesa tops and on the higher ridges.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability of the soil material is moderately rapid above a very slowly permeable petrocalcic horizon. Runoff is high on slopes less than 1 percent, and very high on slopes greater than 1 percent.

USE AND VEGETATION: Rangeland. The present vegetation is mainly blue grama, black grama, sand dropseed, and mesquite.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: East-central New Mexico. Kolar soils are of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: De Baca County, New Mexico, 1983.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon - 0 to 4 inches. (A horizon). When values are low, chromas are too high to meet the requirements of a mollic epipedon.

Cambic horizon - 4 to 11 inches. (Bw horizon). (Not present in all pedons.)

Petrocalcic horizon - indurated calcium carbonate pan at 18 inches. (Bkm horizon).

ADDITIONAL DATA: National Soil Survey Laboratory data; Sample Nos. 817489 through 817494.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.