LOCATION RAYMONDVILLE TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, hyperthermic Vertic Calciustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Raymondville clay loam--cropland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 6 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; structureless; hard, friable; calcareous; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
A--6 to 14 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay loam, very dark gray (10YR 3/1) moist; weak subangular blocky structure; hard, friable; calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 19 inches thick)
Bk1--14 to 25 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) clay loam, dark gray (10YR 4/1) moist; moderate, medium blocky structure; few wedge-shaped peds; very hard, firm; common fine pores; few films and threads of calcium carbonate; calcareous; moderately alkaline; diffuse wavy boundary. (8 to 17 inches thick)
Bk2--25 to 37 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist; moderate medium blocky structure; many wedge-shaped peds; few slickensides; very hard, very firm; few films, threads, and soft bodies of calcium carbonate; calcareous; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
Ck1--37 to 60 inches; light gray (10YR 7/2) clay, light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) moist; moderate fine and medium blocky structure; very hard, very firm; about 5 to 8 percent by volume of concretions and soft bodies of calcium carbonate; calcareous; moderately alkaline; diffuse wavy boundary. (12 to 34 inches thick)
Ck2--60 to 78 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay, brown (10YR 5/3) moist; weak fine blocky structure; very hard, very firm; few calcium carbonate concretions; calcareous; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Cameron County, Texas; 6 miles north; 5 degrees east of Harlingen; in a cultivated field 260 feet east and 85 feet south of northwest corner, block 8, Augua Dulce Farms Subdivision.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness is 32 to 50 inches. When dry, the soil cracks are 3/4 inch to 2 inches wide at the upper end and cracks extend to depths of 30 to 40 inches. COLE is 0.07 to 0.17. Salinity in the 10- to 40-inch control section is free to strongly affected. Depth to a calcic horizon is 25 to 40 inches.
The A horizon is gray (10YR 5/1), dark gray (10YR 4/1), or dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2). Moist values are less than 3.5 to a depth of at least 10 inches. In undisturbed areas, the soil is locally weakly cyclic, and within the limits of a pedon the surface soils in microbasins are dark gray (10YR 4/1), very dark gray (10YR 3/1), and on microknolls they are gray (10YR 5/1) or grayish brown (10YR 5/2). The A horizon is clay loam, clay, or sandy clay.
The B horizon is light gray (10YR 7/2), gray (10YR 5/1), grayish brown (10YR 5/2), brown (10YR 5/3), pale brown (10YR 6/3), or light brownish gray (10YR 6/2). It is clay loam or clay with clay content ranging from 35 to 50 percent.
The C horizon is light gray (10YR 7/2), light brownish gray (10YR 6/2), very pale brown (10YR 7/3), or pale brown (10YR 6/3). It is clay or clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: These are Cameron, Castroville, Denton, Harlingen, Knippa, Krum, Mercedes, Miller, Olmito, and Pledger series. Cameron soils have contrasting clayey over loamy 10- to 40-inch control sections. Castroville soils have less than 35 percent clay in the 10- to 40-inch control section. Denton, Knippa, Krum, Miller, and Pledger soils have mean annual soil temperatures less than 72 degrees F. Harlingen, Mercedes, and Olmito soils have montmorillonitic mineralogy.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: These soils are on nearly level to gently sloping deltas or coastal terraces. Surfaces are plane to slightly concave and gradients are less than 5 percent. The soil formed in calcareous moderately fine and fine textured sediments. Climate is dry subhumid, mean annual precipitation ranges from 23 to 33 inches, and mean annual temperature is about 74 degrees F. The range in Thornthwaite annual P-E indices is 24 to 40.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Harlingen series and Hidalgo and Willacy series. Hidalgo and Willacy soils have 18 to 35 percent clay in their control section. These soils occur on similar surfaces.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained; slow runoff; slow permeability. A seasonal water table occurs at depths of 2.5 to 8 feet in some irrigated areas.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for dry and irrigated cropland and for range. Crops are mostly cotton, grain sorghums, and winter vegetables. Rangeland has a thick overstory of mesquite, retama, huisache, and other thorny shrubs, and a ground cover of mesquitegrass, buffalograss, and threeawn grass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Rio Grande Plain and Gulf Coast Prairie of south Texas. The soil is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hidalgo County, Texas; 1925.