LOCATION LIMPIA TX+AZ NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Pachic Argiustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Limpia very cobbly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 12 inches; dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) very cobbly loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) moist; compound moderate fine granular and subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; many fine roots; 25 percent gravel, 20 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (5 to 16 inches thick)
Bt1--12 to 30 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) extremely cobbly clay; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine angular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; common fine roots; common distinct clay films on surfaces of peds; 35 percent gravel, 20 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)
Bt2--30 to 60 inches; reddish brown (5YR 4/4) extremely cobbly clay, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine angular blocky structure; hard, firm, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few fine roots; many distinct clay films on surfaces of peds; 35 percent gravel, 20 percent cobbles, and 10 percent stones; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Jeff Davis County, Texas; in a pasture, 200 feet north of Limpia Canyon road, 4 miles from State Highway 17. (Latitude: 30 degrees, 46 minutes, 11 seconds North; Latitude: 103 degrees, 40 minutes, 38 seconds, West.)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Aridic ustic moisture regime
Depth to bedrock or unconsolidated material: 60 to 80 inches
Thickness of the mollic epipedon: 20 to 40 inches
Coarse fragments: 20 to 70 percent gravel, 5 to 40 percent cobbles and 0 to 20 percent stones
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline
A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3 dry or moist
Texture: loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam
Bt horizon (upper part)
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Bt horizon (lower part)
Hue: 5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 4 to 6 dry or moist
Texture: clay
Clay content: 35 to 60 percent
Some pedons have secondary carbonate accumulations in the lower part of the Bt horizon
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on nearly level to steep fans and terraces of mountain valleys. Slopes are dominantly 1 to 8 percent, but range up to 45 percent. They have formed in stony and gravelly colluvium material, mainly from volcanic hills and mountains. Mean annual rainfall ranges from 10 to 16 inches and mean air temperature ranges from 60 to 66 degrees F. Frost-free period ranges from 210 to 240 days and elevation ranges from 3,500 to 4,500 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the similar Musquiz series, and the Boracho, Gageby, Medley, Mitre, Rockhouse, and Santo Tomas series. Gageby and Rockhouse soils are on flood plains below and have less than 35 percent clay in the control section. Medley and Santo Tomas soils do not have an argillic horizon. Mitre soils have a solum less than 20 inches thick over a petrocalcic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is slow. Runoff is medium on 1 to 5 percent slopes, high on 5 to 20 percent slopes, and very high on slopes greater than 20 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for livestock grazing. Moderate cover of short and mid grasses such as gramas, bluestems, threeawns, and muhlys with a few woody plants such as catclaw, mesquite trees, and white brush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Semiarid volcanic region of Western Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. MLRA 41 & 42. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Jeff Davis County, Texas; 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon The zone from 0 to 30 inches (A and Bt1 horizons)
Argillic horizon The zone from 12 to 60 inches (Bt horizon)
Soil classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Update and revisions for the Recorrelation of Brewster County, Texas, Main Part, 2/12/08, CEM