LOCATION LEA                     NM+TX

Established Series
Rev. OFB/MTT/VGL
08/2016

LEA SERIES

Typically they have thin, dark grayish brown loamy A horizons, grayish brown loamy B horizons, and light gray horizons of indurated carbonates at depths of 51 to 152 cm (20 to 60 in).
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Petrocalcic Paleustolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Lea loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

A1--0 to 10 cm (0 to 4 in); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak medium platy structure; slightly hard, friable; many fine and medium roots; common fine pores; neutral; clear boundary. (8 to 18 cm [3 to 7 in] thick)

A2--10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 in); brown (10YR 4/3) loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate coarse prismatic structure breaking to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; many fine and medium roots; common fine pores; neutral; clear boundary. (15 to 30 cm [6 to 12 in] thick)

Bk--25 to 46 cm (10 to 18 in); grayish brown (10YR 5/2) heavy loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate coarse prismatic structure breaking to moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly sticky; common fine roots, few medium roots; few fine pores; many medium soft bodies and common fine threads and filaments of carbonates; calcareous, moderately alkaline; gradual boundary. (28 to 76 cm [11 to 30 in] thick)

Bkk--46 to 66 cm (18 to 26 in); light gray (10YR 7/1) heavy loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; structureless, massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky; carbonates are well disseminated only a few small soft bodies; calcareous, moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt boundary. (0 to 28 cm [0 to 11 in] thick)

Bkkm--66 to 102 cm (26 to 40 in); white (10YR 8/1) and very pale brown (10YR 8/3) indurated caliche, thin laminae in the upper part; fractured in places and carbonates fill the fractures; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Lea County, New Mexico; 1,150 ft northwest of windmill and 450 ft east of county (cemetery) road and just west of ranch road in NW1/4, Sec. 18, T. 15 S, R. 36 E.

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 May through October.
Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 18 degrees C (59 to 64 degrees F).
Depth to petrocalcic horizon: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in).
Particle-size control section: 18 to 35 percent silicate clay.
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in).

A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: loam
Effervescence: none in the upper 20 cm (8 inches) of the A horizons
Reaction:neutral to moderately alkaline.

Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 to 8 dry, 4 to 7 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Coarse fragments: 0 to 10 percent imbedded in soil matrix
Texture: loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam
Secondary calcium carbonate: 5 to 40 percent by volume in the
form of masses, nodules, and finely disseminated carbonates
Calcium carbonate by weight: more than 3 to 30 percent
Effervescence: strong or violent
Reaction: moderately alkaline

Bkk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 4 or 7 moist
Chroma: 1 to 3
Coarse fragments: 25 to 60 percent imbedded in soil matrix
Texture: loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam
Secondary calcium carbonate: 50 to 70 percent by volume in the form of masses, nodules, and finely disseminated carbonates
Calcium carbonate by weight: more than 30 to 60 percent
Effervescence: violent
Reaction: 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, calcidic structures below the laminar caps
(pisolitic structure).

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in the same family. Similar soils include the Douro, Eunice, Kenhill, Kimbrough, Spraberry, and Stegall soils.
Douro, Kenhill, Spraberry soils have argillic horizons.
Eunice and Kimbrough soils have a shallow depth class and in addition Kimbrough soils have mollic epipedons.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: 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 406 mm (14 to 16 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 include the similar Douro, Kenhill, Spraberry, Eunice, Kimbrough, and Spraberry series. Other soils include the Amarose, Arizer, Chavaro, Faskin, Lovington, and Ratliff series.
Amarose, Arizer, Chavaro, and Faskin soils are on similar landscape positions and have argillic horizons.
Lovington and Ratliff soils are on similar or slightly lower landscape positions but do not have a petrocalcic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is negligible. Permeability is moderate. The soil in depressions is flooded occasionally.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mainly for rangeland and wildlife habitat. The climax vegetation includes sideoats grama, little bluestem, buffalograss, hairy grama, slim tridens, purple and wright threeawns, New Mexico feathergrass, bushsunflower, gray goldaster, daleas, gayfeather, plains blackfoot, sundrops, catclaw, ephedra, and javelinabrush. Cotton, grain sorghum, and alfalfa are grown under irrigation where water is available. This soil has been correlated to the Shallow (R077DY048TX) site in MLRA-77D.

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: Lovington Area, Lea County, New Mexico, 1932.

REMARKS: The Lea soils were formerly classified in the Reddish Brown great soil group.
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 6/67.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in). (A1, A2 horizons)
Calcic horizon: 25 to 66 cm (10 to 26 in). (Bk & Bkk horizon)
Petrocalcic horizon: 66 to 100 cm (26 to 40 in). (Bkkm horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA: None

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

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.