LOCATION PAJARA NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Calcidic Paleustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Pajara extremely cobbly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) extremely cobbly loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine and very fine roots; 35 percent pebbles and 35 percent cobbles; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
Bt--4 to 14 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/3) extremely cobbly sandy clay, reddish brown (5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few fine and very fine roots; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; 35 percent pebbles and 35 percent cobbles; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (7 to 15 inches thick)
Bk1--14 to 17 inches; pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) extremely cobbly loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) moist; massive; very hard, firm, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; 35 percent pebbles and 35 percent cobbles; violently effervescent; weakly cemented with calcium carbonate; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Bk2--17 to 32 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) extremely cobbly loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; 35 percent pebbles and 35 percent cobbles; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate is diseminated; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (10 to 20 inches thick)
Bk3--32 to 60 inches; white (10YR 8/1) extremely cobbly loam, white (10YR 8/1) moist; massive; very hard, friable, sticky and plastic; 35 percent pebbles and 35 percent cobbles; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate engulfed; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6). (20 to 40 inches thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Lincoln County, New Mexico; 12 miles southwest of Corona; along Transwestern gas pipeline in SW 1/4 of sec. 15, T. 2 S., R. 11 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section December through April and July through October.
Soil Temperature: 47 to 54 degrees F.
Depth to calcic horizon: 12 to 20 inches
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Rock fragments: 40 to 75 percent, about half cobbles and half pebbles
Bt horizon:
Value: 4 or 5
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: sandy clay or clay (35 to 50 percent clay on a weighted average)
Rock fragments: 40 to 75 percent, about half cobbles and half pebbles
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 7 or 8 dry, 6 to 8 moist
Chroma: 1 to 4
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 15 to 40 percent
Rock fragments: 35 to 70 percent, about half cobbles and half pebbles
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competitors in the same family. Similar soils are the Dina and Lutie series. Dina soils have a thicker mollic epipedon and a thermic soil temperature regime. Lutie soils are fine-silty and have a thermic soil temperature regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pajara soils are on tops and side slopes of dissected piedmont slopes. They formed in cobbly mixed alluvium. Slopes range from 1 to 15 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 14 to 17 inches; mean annual temperature ranges from about 45 to 53 degrees F.; and the frost-free period ranges from 150 to 190 days. Elevation ranges from 6,500 to 7,000 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Asparas, Plack, Tortugas, and Witt soils. Asparas, Plack, and Tortugas soils have a mollic epipedon. Witt soils are fine-silty. Asparas and Witt soils have less than 35 percent clay and rock fragments in the particle-size control section. Plack soils are shallow to a petrocalcic horizon and Tortugas soils are shallow to a lithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is slow. Runoff is high on 1 to 5 percent slopes and very high on slopes greater than 5 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Grazing and wood products. Present vegetation is mainly pinyon, juniper, oak, blue grama, sideoats grama, and snakeweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southcentral New Mexico. Pajara soils are of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County, New Mexico, 1981.
REMARKS: This pedon does not have an epipedon thick enough to qualify as a mollic epipedon. Classification is being updated at this time for the STATSGO update project. Further study of the pedon at the type location is needed to insure proper classification.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon: 0 to 14 inches. (A horizon)
Argillic horizon: 4 to 14 inches. (Bt horizon)
Calcic horizon: 14 to 60 inches. (Bk horizons)