LOCATION LAS LUCAS NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Ustic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Las Lucas clay loam
A--0 to 8 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium platy structure in the upper 1 or 2 inches, moderate fine granular structure in the lower part; slightly hard, friable; abundant roots; weakly calcareous in upper 4 inches becoming strongly calcareous in lower part; clear boundary. 5 to 10 inches thick.
Bw--8 to 15 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) heavy clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, friable; roots are common; very strongly calcareous; clear irregular boundary. 5 to 9 inches thick.
Bk--15 to 22 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak angular and subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm; very strongly calcareous; this is a weak Bk horizon with a few small calcium carbonate concretions; gradual boundary. 5 to 10 inches thick.
Ck--22 to 40 inches; pale olive (5Y 6/3) light clay loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) moist; massive; hard, friable; strongly calcareous; this is a weak Ck horizon with a few small calcium carbonate concretions and thin seams; gradual boundary. 8 to 14 inches thick.
R--40 to 50 inches +; Gray and olive shale, laminated and with common salt crystals between the laminations.
TYPE LOCATION: Sandoval County, New Mexico, 20 feet NE of SW corner of section 16, T19N, R2W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Ustic aridic moisture regime.
A horizon
Hue: 10YR and 2.5Y
Chroma: 2 and 3
Value: 5 and 6 dry and 3 and 4 moist (Surface horizons having values as dark as 5 dry and 3 moist should not exceed 4 inches in thickness)
Texture: loam or clay loam
Calcium carbonate: noncalcareous to weakly calcareous
B horizon
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Chroma: 3 through 4
Value: 5 to 7 dry and 3 to 5 moist
Texture: clay loam
Clay content: 27 to 35 percent
Silt content: 20 to 60 percent
Sand content: 10 to 45 percent
Depth to shale bedrock: greater than 40 inches
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nearly level to sloping alluvial fans and valley filling slopes.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow permeability; runoff is rapid.
USE AND VEGETATION: Western wheatgrass, alkali sacaton, blue grama and galleta.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and north central New Mexico.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: The Upper Puerco Reconn. Survey, SCS, 1937.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric Epipedon - The zone from the surface to a depth of 8 inches. (A horizon)
Cambic horizon - The zone from 8 to 15 inches. (Bw horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999.
Series name after a small village in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Soil at type location differs from typical profile for series description by having a light clay texture at 8 to 15 inches and having slightly coarser structure throughout the horizon.