LOCATION OGRAL NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous, thermic Typic Torriorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Ogral very fine sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very fine sandy loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; weak very thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
AC--2 to 6 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very fine sandy loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
C1--6 to 18 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) fine sandy loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; massive; hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; 10 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1); abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 17 inches thick)
C2--18 to 60 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very gravelly fine sandy loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) moist; massive; hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few roots; 50 percent gravel; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.1). (More than 30 inches thick.)
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; NW1/4 SE1/4 section 5, T.15S., R.10E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during July-September. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
In places these soils have from 30 to 60 percent gravel on the surface in the form of desert pavement
Depth to the very gravelly layer: 10 to 20 inches
A horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 4 dry and 3 or 4 moist
Texture: very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam
AC horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry and moist
Texture: very sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam
C1 horizon
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry and moist
Texture: fine sandy loam or sandy loam
Gravel content: 0 to 10 percent
C2 horizon
Hue: 5 YR or 7.5YR
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4 dry and moist
Texture: very gravelly fine sandy loam or very gravelly sandy loam
Gravel content: 40 to 70 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Canoto (NV), Canutio (TX), Cavespring (CA), Emot (NM), Spellacy (CA), Storybook (AZ) and Yermo (CA) series. Canoto, Cavespring, Spellacy, Storybook and Yermo soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30), receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November. Canutio soils have 25 percent or more gravel and cobbles in the upper 18 inches and have hue mainly in the 10YR to 7.5YR range. Emot soils have textures finer than fine sandy loam and have hues of 7.5YR or 10YR.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ogral soils are on broad alluvial pediment footslopes. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. Elevations range from 4,000 to 4,800 feet. These soils formed in mixed alluvial deposits weathered mostly from limestone. The soils are in arid climate with annual precipitation ranging from 6 to 12 inches with most of this coming from June through August. The mean January temperature is 43 degrees F. and the mean annual July temperature is 80 degrees F. The mean annual temperature is about 58 to 62 degrees F. The frost free season is about 200 to 220 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Alamogordo, Aztec, Largo, Prelo, Tome, and McCullough soils and the competing Emot soils. Alamogordo and Aztec soils have a gypsic horizon and Alamogordo soils lack a skeletal control section. Largo, Prelo, and Tome soils have less than 15 percent fine sand or coarser in the 10 to 40 inch control section. McCullough, Prelo, and Tome soils lack a skeletal control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: The soils are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, urbanization, and limited irrigated cropland. Native vegetation is alkali sacaton, creosotebush, mesquite, Russian thistle, and broom snakeweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Closed basin areas of south central New Mexico. This soil occurs in LRR-D, MLRA 42. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero Soil Survey Area, Otero County, New Mexico, 1976.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999.