LOCATION PINKEL NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Ruptic-Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Pinkel very cobbly loam, range and wooded. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A1--0 to 4 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) very cobbly loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium platy parting to weak very fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; 15 percent gravel, 30 percent cobbles, and 15 percent stones; noncalcareous; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
B2--4 to 13 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/2) very cobbly sandy clay loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; weak fine granular structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; few fine interstitial pores; 10 percent gravel, 35 percent cobbles, and 35 percent stones; thin weak discontinuous caliche coatings on bottom of rock fragments; noncalcareous; mildly alkaline; abrupt irregular boundary. (4 to 14 inches thick)
C--13 to 30 inches; 85 to 90 percent sandstone fragments with some voids filled with brown (7.5YR 4/4) soil, moist; sandstone fractures open into grayish shales in the lower part. Tree roots penetrate fractures. (2 to 18 inches thick)
R--30 inches; sandstone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; about 150 feet north of Water Spreader Dam in Pinkey Canyon which is in the SE corner of the NE1/4 NW1/4 section 19, T.12S., R.12E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock within each pedon ranges from 8 to 40 inches with the dominant depth ranging from 20 to 40 inches. Coarse fragments in the control section range from 35 to 85 percent. The average annual soil temperature ranges from 47 to 59 degrees F. These soils are dry in some part of the section from 4 to 12 inches less than 1/2 the time the soil temperature is 41 degrees F. or more. The driest period occurs between October and June. The solum is neutral to mildly alkaline and noncalcareous to moderately calcareous. The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, values are 3 through 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. It contains 1 to 4 percent organic matter. The B2 horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 3 through 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 dry or moist. It is loam, sandy clay loam, to light clay loam containing 18 to 35 percent clay. The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 3 through 5 dry, 2 through 4 moist, and chroma ranging from 2 through 4 dry or moist. Form of the lime ranges from nonvisible and finely divided to common, fine to medium, soft lime concretions and mycelia and a few thin caliche coatings on the bottom of the fragments in the lower part. The calcium carbonate equivalent increases with depth with the weighted average in the control section being less than 15 percent.
COMPETING SERIES AND THEIR DIFFERENTIAE: These are the Baller, Blamer, Faraway, Laporte, and Oro Grande series. Baller, Faraway, Laporte and Oro Grande soils have bedrock within 20 inches of the surface. Blamer soils have a mean annual soil temperature less than 47 degrees F.
SETTING: The Pinkel soils occur on strongly to very steeply sloping and rolling hills and mountains at elevations of 5,800 to 6,900 feet. The parent materials are mainly from sandstone and gray shale. These soils occur in a semiarid climate. The mean annual precipitation is about 14 to 16 inches with a summer maximum. The average annual temperature is about 45 to 47 degrees F.
PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Blamer and also Brycan. Brycan soils have mollic epipedons thicker than 16 inches and lack bedrock with 40 inches of the surface.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; moderately slow to moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native range, watershed, and wildlife. Principal native vegetation is blue grama, sideoats grama, bluestem, hairy grama, and pinyon juniper trees.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mountainous areas of south central New Mexico. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero County (Mescalero Apache Area), New Mexico, 1970.