LOCATION PUICE NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, mesic Ustic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Puice channery loam - on a southfacing slope of 6 percent at 6,040 feet elevation. - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Al--0 to 2 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) channery loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak thin platy and weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable; slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; 15 percent channers; 5 percent flagstones and 5 percent pebbles; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate is disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary (2 to 7 inches thick).
A2--2 to 6 inches; pale brown (10YR6/3) gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and common very fine roots; 20 percent pebbles and 5 percent channers; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate is disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Bkl--6 to l3 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/2) very channery loam, very pale brown (l0YR 7/3) moist; weak coarse and medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium and common fine and very fine roots; 25 percent channers and l0 percent flagstones; disseminated gypsum; violently effervescent; carbonates disseminated and segregated as common medium masses and as coatings on rock fragments; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (7 to 9 inches thick)
Bk2--l3 to 23 inches; light gray (l0YR 7/2) very channery loam, pale brown (l0YR 6/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few medium, fine and very fine roots; 40 percent channers and l0 percent flagstones; disseminated gypsum; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate is disseminated and segregated as common medium soft masses and as coatings on rock fragments; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (10 to l3 inches thick)
Bk3--23 to 28 inches; very pale brown (l0YR 7/3) extremely channery loam, brown (l0YR 5/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and very fine roots; 45 percent channers; l5 percent pebbles; 5 percent flagstones; disseminated gypsum; violently effervescent; calcium carbonate is disseminated and segregated as common medium masses and as coatings on rock fragments; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 6 inches thick)
R--28 inches; limestone; somewhat fractured and can be chipped out, but chipped out fragments are not coated with calcium carbonate. Roots are matted on the top of the contact and do not enter the fractures.
TYPE LOCATION: Socorro County, New Mexico; l3 miles south of Claunch and about 50 feet north and 25 feet east of cap marking quarter section between sections l6 and 2l; in the SW l/4, SW l/4, sec. l6, T. 4 S., R. 9 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Percent calcium carbonate equivalent in the mineralogy control: 40 to 85 percent.
Gypsum in the particle-size control section: 5 to 15 percent with no horizon of secondary accumulation that would qualify as a gypsic horizon.
Depth to the calcic horizon: 2 to l2 inches
The soil moisture control section is moist in some part intermittently from July through September following convective storms.
Percent clay in particle-size control section: l0 to 25
Depth to bedrock: 20 to 40 inches
The epipedon contains less than 40 percent calcium carbonate equivalent, and where it has mollic colors it is too thin to qualify as a mollic epipedon.
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or l0YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Percent rock fragments: 0 to 20 pebbles, 5 to l5 channers, 0 to 5 flagstones
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or l0YR
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 4 to 7 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: very channery loam, extremely channery loam or extremely channery sandy loam
Percent rock fragments: 25 to 50 channers, 5 to l5 pebbles, 5 to l5 flagstones
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ildecarb (NM), Ladron (NM), Moab (UT), Stormitt (UT), Storsun (WY), and Tusayan (AZ) series. Ildecarb, Ladron, Moab, Stormitt, and Storsun soils are very deep. Socorro soils formed in calcareous loess, do not have gypsum and the rock fragments are basalt. Tusayan soils have less than l percent gypsum and rock fragments are dominantly pebbles.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Puice soils are on tops and sideslopes of knolls and ridges which are underlain by interbedded limestone and gypsum rock. Slopes range from l to l5 percent. The average annual precipitation ranges from l2 to l5 inches and the average annual temperature ranges from 50 to 54 degrees F. The average frost-free period ranges from l50 to l70 days. Elevation ranges from 5700 to 6500 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Cuate, Deama, Dean, Harvey, Tanbark and the competing Ildecarb soils. Cuate and Deama soils have a mollic epipedon. Dean and Harvey soils are very deep. Tanbark soils are less than 20 inches deep and have gypsic mineralogy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is very low on 1 to 5 percent slopes and low on 5 to 15 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Puice soils are used for livestock grazing and some limited wood production. Present vegetation is curlyleaf muhly, New Mexico feathergrass, plains lovegrass, wolftail, hairy grama and one-seed juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Puice soils are of small extent in central New Mexico.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Socorro County, New Mexico, l984.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Calcic horizon: 6 to 28 inches. (Bk horizons)
Lithic contact: 28 inches. (R horizon, limestone bedrock)
ADDITIONAL DATA: Calcium carbonate equivalent determined with field volume calcimeter.