LOCATION LECHUGUILLA             NM

Established Series
AJM, WJG
04/2017

LECHUGUILLA SERIES

The Lechuguilla series consists of very shallow and shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium from limestone and dolomite. Lechuguilla soils are on back slopes of hills and on mountain flanks and scarps. Slope ranges from 1 to 70 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 42 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Lithic Ustic Torriorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Lechuguilla very cobbly loam, national park and wilderness area. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is covered by approximately 20 percent gravel, 5 percnet channers, 15 percent cobbles, 10 percent flagstones and 5 percent stones.

A1--0 to 3 inches (0 to 6 cm); brown (10YR 4/3) very cobbly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2), moist; 20 percent clay; moderate coarse granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine roots and common fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; 30 percent gravel and 15 percent cobble and 5 percent stone; violently effervescent, 33 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 7.9; clear smooth boundary.

A2--3 to 9 inches (6 to 23 cm); brown (10YR 4/3) very gravelly loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2), moist; 22 percent clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine roots and common fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; 10 percent fine gravel and 15 percent coarse gravel and 10 percent cobble and 5 percent stone; violently effervescent, 29 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; slightly alkaline, pH 7.7; clear smooth boundary.

Bk--9 to 13 inches (23 to 32 cm); brown (10YR 5/3) very stony loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2), moist; 23 percent clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few medium roots and common very fine and fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; common fine prominent irregular carbonate masses throughout and few medium prominent irregular weakly cemented carbonate nodules on bottom of rock fragments; 10 percent fine gravel and 5 percent coarse gravel and 10 percent cobble and 15 percent stone; violently effervescent, 39 percent calcium carbonate equivalent; moderately alkaline, pH 7.9; abrupt smooth boundary.

R--13 inches, (32 cm); indurated limestone bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Eddy County, New Mexico; located on the north-facing side-slope of a ridge, exactly 2 miles west along the Loop Road of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 50 yards past a turnout for an aerial tower walk about 100 yards due North. Approximately 6 miles west of Whites City; USGS Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico 7.5 minute quadrangle; UTM zone 13, 541021 3553843, NAD83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil Moisture: In normal years this soil is driest during May and June and moist in the upper part for up to 90 cumulative days during the growing season. The soil moisture regime is aridic bordering on ustic.

Soil temperature: 59 to 66 degrees F, thermic temperature regime.

Thickness of ochric epipedon: 4 to 20 in (10 to 50 cm)
Depth to lithic contact: 4 to 20 in (10 to 50 cm)

Control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 27 percent
Sand content: 15 to 40 percent
Rock fragment content: 35 to 65 percent total; 10 to 45 percent gravel or channers; 5 to 25 percent cobbles; 0 to 10 percent stones or flagstones; 0 to 2 percent boulders
Calcium carbonate equivalent of the less than 20 millimeter fraction: 10 to 50 percent

A horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 2 to 3 dry or moist.
Texture: loam, silt loam, silty clay loam
Rock fragment content: 20 to 60 percent total; 5 to 50 percent gravel or channers; 5 to 60 percent cobbles; 0 to 25 percent stones or flagstones; 0 to 2 percent boulders
Effervescence: none to violent
Reaction: neutral moderately alkaline

Bk horizon
Hue: 10YR, 7.5YR
Value: 3 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist.
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist
Texture: loam, silt loam, silty clay loam
Rock fragment content: 30 to 65 percent total; 5 to 50 percent gravel or channers; 5 to 30 percent cobbles; 5 to 50 percent stones or flagstones; 0 to 2 percent boulders
Effervescence: none to violent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: The competing series are Brewster, Budlamp, Tortugas and Yarbam. Brewster soils are formed from igneous rocks, have 5YR hue and have no B horizons. Budlamp soils have only 5 to 18 percent clay in the control section, have no cobbles in the A or on the surface and are typically formed on granite. Yarbam series contains only 5 to 18 percent clay in the control section, does not have secondary carbonates but typically has a calcium carbonate equivalent between 5 and 40 percent and is in the aridic ustic moisture regime.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Lechuguilla soils are on slopes and summits of mountains, hills and ridges. Slope ranges from 1 to 70 percent. These soils formed in residuum and colluvium on mostly convex surfaces in limestone and dolomite. Elevations are 3,400 to 5,000 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 16 in, mostly occurring as high intensity rain during afternoon thunderstorms from July to September; mean annual air temperature is 57 to 61 degrees F., and the frost-free season is 212 to 246 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Choza and Pinery soils. Choza and Pinery are both alluvial soils on fan remnants. Choza is shallow to a petrocalcic and Pinery is very deep.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; low to very high runoff.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for recreation and wildlife habitat. The dominant native grasses are curlyleaf muhly, hairy grama, black grama, sideoats grama, slim tridens and threeawn; the dominant shrubs are redberry juniper, lechuguilla, sotol, torreys yucca, skeletonleaf goldeneye, ocotillo and roemers acacia; jimmy fern is a common forb.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lechuguilla soils are of small extent in the Guadalupe Mountains section of the Basin and Range province in south eastern New Mexico. The MLRA is 42.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eddy County Area, New Mexico, 2011; Soil survey of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 2011. The name is adopted from the word lechuguilla, the namesake of a cave, canyon, spring and a prolific yucca, all local to this area. Lechuguilla is a Spanish word meaning bountiful harvest.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in the profile are:

Ochric epipedon - 0 to 13 inches (A and Bk horizons)

Lithic contact - 13 inches (top of R layer)

Particle-size control section - 0 to 13 inches (A and Bk horizons)

Secondary carbonates - 0 to 13 inches (A and Bk horizons)

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014

Revised for the correlation of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, October, 2016, NMS

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.