LOCATION PLUMASANO               NM+AZ+UT

Established Series
Rev. SSP/LWH/SAZ
10/2018

PLUMASANO SERIES

The Plumasano series consists of very deep, well drained and somewhat excessively drained, moderate or moderately rapid permeable soils that formed in alluvium, fan alluvium, and slope alluvium and eolian materials derived from sandstone. Plumasano soils are on mesas, cuestas, plateaus, hills, structural benches and ridges. Slopes range from 2 to 40 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 13 inches, and mean annual air temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Plumasano sandy loam--in a chained area on a convex northwest facing slope of 4 percent at an elevation of 6,905 feet. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise noted.)

A--0 to 2 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) sandy loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common fine and very fine roots; common very fine irregular pores; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)

Bw--2 to 11 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/4) sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few medium and many fine and very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; slightly effervescent; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 22 inches thick)

Bk1--11 to 27 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; massive; hard, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine and very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate occurs as common medium soft filaments, seams and masses; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6); clear smooth boundary.

Bk2--27 to 43 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; few very fine irregular pores; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate occurs as few medium soft masses and seams; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary.

Bk3--43 to 53 inches; light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) fine sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine irregular pores; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate occurs as common medium soft masses, filaments and seams; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear smooth boundary.

Bk4--53 to 65 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) sandy clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine irregular pores; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate occurs as few medium soft filaments and masses; slightly alkaline (pH 7.6). (The combined thickness of the Bk horizons is 36 to 60 inches.)

TYPE LOCATION: Cibola County, New Mexico; Plumasano Basin Quadrangle; about 1.5 miles north of Plumasano Wash on the Zuni Indian Reservation; 1,900 feet south and 800 feet east of the northwest corner of sec. 10, T. 8 N., R. 19 W.; 108 degrees 49 minutes 59 seconds west longitude, 34 degrees 56 minutes 24 seconds north latitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section December through April and July through October. The period of maximum precipitation is July through October. The soil is driest during May and June. Ustic aridic moisture regime.

Soil Temperature: 47 to 55 degrees F.

Particle-size control section: 5 to 18 percent clay

Depth to bottom of cambic: 10 to 41 inches

A horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6 dry, 2 to 6 moist
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline
Other features: when this horizon has mollic colors it is too thin and does not have the necessary amount of organic matter to make a mollic epipedon

Bw horizon
Hue: 5YR, 7.5YR, 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 4 dry, 2 to 6 moist
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Reaction: neutral to strongly alkaline

Bk horizons
Hue: 5YR, 7.5Y, 10YR
Value: 5 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6 dry, 2 to 6 moist
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loamy sand
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Percent calcium carbonate equivalent: less than 15 percent
Reaction: slightly to strongly alkaline

C horizon (when present)
Value: 5 to 6 dry, 4 to 5 moist
Texture: fine sand, loamy fine sand, loamy sand

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Skutumpah series. Skutumpah soils do not have visible carbonates and are noneffervescent throughout.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Plumasano soils formed in alluvium, fan alluvium, and slope alluvium and eolian materials derived from sandstone and are on escarpments of mesas, plateaus and cuestas and backslopes of hills structural benches and ridges. Slopes are 2 to 40 percent. Elevations range from 5,550 to 7,500 feet. The mean annual air temperature is 45 to 53 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is 13 to 18 inches. The frost-free period is 100 to 150 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Flugle and Fragua soils on summits of mesas and dipslopes of cuestas; the Rizno and Tekapo soils on escarpments of mesas and cuestas; and the Aquima and Padilla soils on treads of fan terraces. The Flugle, Fragua, and Padilla soils have argillic horizons. The Rizno and Tekapo soils are shallow to sandstone and shale. Aquima soils have 18 to 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained and somewhat excessively drained, low to medium runoff on slopes less than 12 percent and very rapid on slopes greater than 12 percent, and moderate or moderately rapid permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: This series is used for wood products and livestock grazing. Present vegetation is pinyon and oneseed juniper with an understory of antelope bitterbrush, cliffrose, dunebroom, Bigelow sagebrush, dunebroom, Indian ricegrass, blue grama, sand dropseed, galleta, muttongrass, threeawns, and sandhill muhly.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: northwest New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southern Utah. MLRA 35, LRR-D. This series is of moderate extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona

SERIES ESTABLISHED: McKinley County Area, New Mexico; McKinley County and Parts of Cibola and San Juan Counties, 2001.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon)

Cambic horizon: The zone from 2 to 11 inches (Bw horizon)

The Bk horizon does not meet the criteria for a diagnostic calcic horizon.

Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2014

Update and revisions for the correlation of Navajo Mountain Area (AZ711) and Ft. Difiance Area (AZ715), June 27, 2008, CEM

Update and revisions for the correlation of Capitol Reef National Park, January 2013, WWJ

Update and revisions for the correlation of Kane County (UT642), July 2017, CEM

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.