LOCATION MESCALERO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, frigid Pachic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Mescalero stony silty clay loam, range and wooded. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch; undecomposed and partially decomposed leaves, needles, and woody plant twigs. (0 to 1 inches thick)
A--1 to 3 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) stony silty clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; weak thick platy parting to moderate fine granular structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and medium roots; many fine interstitial and few fine tubular pores; 5 percent channery fragments, 10 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bw1--3 to 11 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) cobbly silty clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate fine and very fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; many fine and medium roots; common fine and medium interstitial pores; dark organic staining on surfaces of peds; 10 percent channery fragments, 25 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones; slightly calcareous in the lower part; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)
Bw2--11 to 16 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) very cobbly silty clay loam, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, very sticky, plastic; common medium and few fine roots; common medium and fine interstitial pores; dark organic staining on surfaces of peds; 20 percent channery fragments, 35 percent cobbles, 5 percent stones; thin discontinuous caliche coatings on bottom of cobbles and stones; moderately calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
Bw3--16 to 20 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very cobbly clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky, plastic; few medium and coarse roots; common medium and fine interstitial pores; 5 percent channery fragments, 60 percent cobbles, 20 percent stones; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
C--20 to 29 inches; 85 percent rock fragments of fractured limestone bedrock with soil material similar to the Bw3 horizon in the fractures. Roots penetrate fractures. (10 to 17 inches thick)
R--29 to 33 inches; limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; about 1,000 feet north of the Harley Mountain road on top of a ridge which is 1/4 mile west of Harley Well near the center of the NE1/4, section 22, T.13S., R.13E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 12 to 20 inches
Depth to bedrock: 20 to 40 inches
Coarse fragments: 35 to 85 percent
Average annual soil temperature: 36 to 46 degrees F.
Soil moisture: These soils are usually moist between 4 and 12 inches with the driest period between April and June. Typic ustic moisture regime.
Clay content: 24 to 35 percent
Reaction: moderately alkaline through slightly acid
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 or 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1.5 through 3 dry or moist
Organic matter: 3 to 10 percent
Bw horizons
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 through 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma: 1.5 through 3 dry or moist
Texture: cobbly silty clay loam or clay loam
Calcium carbonate content: increases with depth to the limestone bedrock and ranges from 2 to 15 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Alchonzo (NM), Blanca (NM), Caballo (NM), Garber (CO), Hidatsa (ND), Lolo (MT), Osha (NM), and Utso (UT) series. Alchonzo soils are moderately deep to monzonite. Blanca soils are very deep. Caballo soils have 18 percent or more clay in the control section. Garber soils have hue of 5YR and 10YR. Lolo soils have gravel throughout the solum. Hidatsa and Lolo soils have hue of 10YR or yellow. Osha and Utso soils have a lithic contact within 40 to 60 inches. In addition, Garber, Hidatsa and Lolo soils are moist in April, May and June and are in LRR-E, F, and G.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Mescalero soils are on gently to strongly sloping ridgetops, crests and saddles of limestone hills and mountains at elevations of 7,200 to 9,000 feet. The parent materials are weathered from limestone. The soils occur in a dry subhumid climate. The mean annual precipitation is about 18 to 24 inches with a summer maximum. The mean annual temperature is about 32 to 45 degrees F. The Thornthwaite P-E Index is about 30 to 45.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gaines, Peso and Telefono soils. Gaines and Telefono soils have argillic horizons. Peso soils lack mollic epipedons thicker than 16 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to rapid runoff; moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native range, woodland, recreation, watershed and wildlife. Principal native vegetation is blue grama, sideoats grama, western wheatgrass, mountain brome, ponderosa pine and oak brush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountainous areas of south central New Mexico. The series is of moderate extent. MLRA 39.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero County (Mescalero, Apache Area), New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon - The zone from 1 to 20 inches (A & Bw horizons)
Cambic horizon - The zone from 3 to 20 inches (Bw horizons)
Lithic contact - at 29 inches (R horizon)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006