LOCATION PANDURA            PR
Established Series
Rev. RAB-LHR
10/2003

PANDURA SERIES


The Pandura series consists of shallow, well drained soils formed in materials weathered from plutonic rocks. They are moderately steep to very steep soils on side slopes of dissected uplands. They have loam to sandy loam A and B horizons over weathered and partially weathered plutonic rocks.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, active, isohyperthermic, shallow Dystric Eutrudepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Pandura loam - pasture
(Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 3 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) loam; weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine roots; many fine quartz grains; many worm casts; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)

B2--3 to 7 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic, many fine roots; few thin patchy clay films on surfaces of peds; many fine quartz grains; many worm casts; many fine dark colored weathered minerals; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)

B3--7 to 15 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) sandy loam; massive; friable; nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; many fine quartz grains; medium acid; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)

C1--15 to 19 inches; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) sandy loam; massive; friable; nonplastic; very few fine roots; slightly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

C2r--19 to 35 inches; partially weathered igneous rock of sandy loam texture; rock structure; friable; slightly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Sudeste SCD, Puerto Rico; 150 feet northeast of kilometer marker 23.9 of Highway 181.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to the paralithic contact ranges from 12 to 20 inches. Mean annual soil temperature ranges from 76 to 80 degrees F. Base saturation below a depth of 10 inches is more than 80 percent. The soil has common or many fine quartz grains throughout.

The A horizons have hues of 7.5YR and 10YR, values of 3 and 4, and chroma of 3 and 4. They are loam or sandy loam.

The B horizons have hues of 7.5YR through 2.5Y and values and chromas of 3 to 6. They are loam or sandy loam and have weak medium or fine subangular blocky structure or subhorizons are massive.

The C horizons have hues of 10YR or 2.5Y, values of 5 through 7, and chroma of 3 through 6. They are loam or sandy loam.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other known series in the same family. The Caguabo, Cuchillas, Dique, Juana Diaz, Juncos, Junquitos, Malaya, Mani, Maraguez, Maresua, Montegrande, Morado, Mucara, Plata, Quebrada, and Vivi series are similar soils in related families. Caguabo and Malaya soils have hard rock within a depth of 20 inches. Cuchillas soils have an isothermic temperature regime. Dique and Vivi soils have an irregular decrease in organic matter with depth. Juana Diaz soils have an ustic moisture regime. Juncos, Montegrande, and Mucara soils have higher COLE values and crack when dry. Junquitos and Mani soils have low chroma mottles. Maraguez, Morado, and Quebrada soils lack a paralithic contact within a depth of 20 inches. Maresua and Plata soils have more than 35 percent coarse fragments in the particle-size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Pandura soils are sloping to steep and on side slopes of dissected uplands. Slope gradients range from 20 to 60 percent. The soils formed in loamy residuum from partially weathered plutonic rocks, mainly quartz diorite and granodiorite. The climate is humid tropical. The average yearly precipitation is 75 to 85 inches and the mean annual air temperature is 76 to 80 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Candelero, Cayagua, Ingenio, Jagueyes, Limones, Lirios, Mayo, Patillas and Teja series. The Candelero, Cayagua and Mayo soils occur in terraces and footslopes and have thicker profiles. The Ingenio, Jagueyes, Limones, Lirios, Patillas and Teja soils are in similar side slopes. The Ingenio, Jagueyes, Limones, Lirios and Patillas soils are more weathered and have redder profiles. The Teja soils have hard rock within 20 inches of the surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is medium to rapid. Permeability is moderately rapid.

USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is for growing pasture of native grasses and tame. Small acreage is in food crops.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid plutonic uplands of Puerto Rico. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Puerto Rico; 1942.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.