LOCATION QUEZCAN NM
Established Series
Rev. JVC/LWH/CDH/WWJ
10/2018
QUEZCAN SERIES
The Quezcan series consists of well drained soils which are moderately deep to shale and claystone. Quezcan soils formed in colluvium and residuum derived from shale, claystone, and sandstone on backslopes of escarpments. Permeability is slow. Slopes are 35 to 65 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches and mean annual temperature is about 49 degrees.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, calcareous, mesic Aridic Ustorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Quezcan very cobbly clay loam, extremely bouldery - on a slightly convex backslope sloping 42 percent to the west at 7,040 feet elevation -- woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 3 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) very cobbly clay loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; weak medium platy structure parting to moderate fine granular; soft, very friable, sticky and plastic; few coarse to very fine roots; few very fine irregularly shaped pores; 25 percent pebbles, 20 percent cobbles, 5 percent boulders, and 3 percent stones; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bk--3 to 6 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) gravelly clay loam, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few medium, common fine and common very fine roots; few fine and few very fine tubular pores; 15 percent pebbles and 5 percent cobbles; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonates segregated as few fine and medium irregularly shaped accumulations on rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 7 inches thick)
BCk--6 to 10 inches; light gray (5Y 7/1) and light gray (10YR 7/2) clay loam, gray (5Y 6/1) with light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate coarse subangular blocky; slightly hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few coarse, common medium, few fine, and few very fine roots; few fine and few very fine tubular pores; few thin cracks 3 to 6 mm wide; 5 percent pebbles; strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonates segregated as few fine and few medium irregularly shaped accumulations on ped faces and rock fragments; moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 13 inches thick)
2Ck--10 to 19 inches; pink (5YR 8/3) and light gray (5Y 7/1) silty clay loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) and gray (5Y 6/1) moist; moderate coarse prismatic structure parting to weak medium subangular blocky; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few medium, common fine, and common very fine roots; few fine and very fine tubular pores; 40 percent soft shale fragments; few thin cracks 3 to 6 mm wide; slightly to strongly effervescent, secondary calcium carbonates segregated as few fine irregularly shaped accumulations on rock fragments; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); clear wavy boundary. (9 to 23 inches thick)
2C--19 to 27 inches; pink (5YR 8/3) silty clay loam, light reddish brown (5YR 6/4) moist; massive, platy rock structure; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few medium, few fine, and common very fine roots; few very fine irregular pores; 70 percent soft shale fragments; slightly effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); gradual irregular boundary. (0 to 14 inches thick)
2Cr--27 inches; fractured shale bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: San Juan County, New Mexico; on the Navajo Indian Reservation about 6 miles west of Sanostee; 2,000 feet south and 2,000 feet west of the northwest corner of sec. 9, T.25N., R.20W; Latitude 36 degrees 25 minutes 3 seconds N and Longitude 108 degrees 58 minutes 51 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Typically, the soil moisture control section is moist in all parts during the 90 days following the winter solstice. It is moist in some part less than 40 percent of the time and moist in all parts less than 25 percent of the time when the soil temperature at 20 inches is above 41 degrees F. December and August are the wettest months and May and June are the driest. Aridic ustic moisture regime.
Soil temperature - 47 to 54 degrees F.
Soil depth: 20 to 40 inches to soft bedrock
Reaction: moderately to strongly alkaline
Silicate clay content, control section weighted average: 35 to 50 percent
Cracking: few cracks 2 to 8 mm wide present in Bk, BCk, or Ck horizons
A horizon
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Rock fragments: Total range is 35 to 60 percent
15 to 25 percent gravels
15 to 25 percent cobbles
1 to 5 percent stones
1 to 5 percent boulders
Bk and BCk horizons
Hue: 10YR to 5Y
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 5 to 7 moist
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist
Texture: gravelly clay loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay
Rock fragments: Total range is 5 to 25 percent
5 to 15 percent gravel
0 to 5 percent cobbles
0 to 5 percent stones
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 10 percent
Other features: 0 to 30 percent soft, slakable shale or claystone fragments; some pedons have textures of cobbly clay loam or cobbly silty clay loam.
2C horizons
Hue: 5YR to 5Y
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 5 to 7 moist
Chroma: 1 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: silty clay loam or silty clay
Salinity, mmhos/cm: less than 4
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 3 to 10 percent
Gypsum content: 0 to 2 percent
Other features: 40 to 70 percent soft, slakable shale or claystone fragments; some pedons have hue of 2.5YR or 5GY
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competitors.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Quezcan soils are on backslopes of escarpments below mesas and cuestas. They formed in colluvium and residuum derived from Jurassic shale, claystone, and sandstone. Slopes are 35 to 65 percent. Elevation ranges from 5,540 to 8,000 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 17 inches with about half falling as winter snow and half falling as rain from high-intensity convective storms between July and September. The mean annual temperature is 45 to 52 degrees F. The average frost-free period is 100 to 140 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the
Hozho soil. Hozho soils are sandy, shallow to bedrock, and occur on adjacent backslopes.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid runoff; slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Quezcan soils are used for limited woodland production and livestock grazing. Present vegetation is pinyon, Utah juniper, true mountainmahogany, Utah serviceberry, thrifty goldenweed, saline wildrye, bottlebrush squirreltail, Indian ricegrass, and muttongrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Quezcan soils are of small extent on the Blanding Basin and Red Rock Bench portions of the Colorado Plateau province in northwest New Mexico and northeast Arizona. MLRA 35.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Shiprock Area, Parts of San Juan County, New Mexico and Apache County, Arizona; 1993.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to a depth of about 3 inches. (A horizon)
Paralithic contact - The presence of soft sedimentary bedrock at 27 inches.
Entisol feature - The lack of diagnostic subsurface horizons; The Bk and BCk horizons do not qualify as a calcic horizon due to having less than 15 percent calcium carbonate equivalent.
Aridic subgroup - This soil has an Aridic Ustic soil moisture regime.
This soil has high shrink-swell properties in the subsurface horizons and morphological features that are marginal to those required for the Vertic subgroup of Ustorthents. Cracks are present that are sometimes 5 mm or more wide, but slickensides or wedge-shaped aggregates are not present. This soil may qualify for the Vertic subgroup under the linear extensibility (LE) criterion, but it has not had the COLE values determined for the horizons above the paralithic contact.
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Twelfth Edition, 2014.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Calcium carbonate equivalence was determined with a field volume calcimeter. Salinity values were determined with an Instant EC salinity meter.
Updates and revisions for the correlation of Kane County (UT642), July 2017, CEM
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.