LOCATION SALTILLO NE

Established Series
SAS, CWL
03/2020

SALTILLO SERIES

The Saltillo series consists of very deep poorly drained soils formed in silty alluvium high in exchangeable sodium. These soils are on flood plains and have slopes of 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is 11 degrees C. (51 degrees F.), and mean annual precipitation is 710 millimeters (28 inches) at the type location.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, calcareous, mesic Typic Halaquepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Saltillo silt loam on nearly level slopes in native pasture. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

An--0 to 15 centimeters (0 to 6 inches); very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; weak fine granular structure; 16.7 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 82.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; moderately alkaline; slight effervescence throughout; abrupt smooth boundary. (8 to 23 centimeters (3 to 9 inches) thick)

Bn--15 to 43 centimeters (6 to 17 inches); dark gray (10YR 4/1) silt loam, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak medium granular; 15.3 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 88.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; common medium rounded strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron throughout; slight effervescence throughout; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (15 to 46 centimeters (6 to 18 inches) thick)

Anb1--43 to 81 centimeters (17 to 32 inches); very dark gray (10YR 3/1) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; 12.0 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 78.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; common medium rounded strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron throughout; slight effervescence throughout; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary.

Anb2--81 to 127 centimeters (32 to 50 inches); very dark gray (N 3/0) silty clay loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) dry; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; 10.0 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 82.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; common medium rounded strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron throughout; slight effervescence throughout; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary.

Anb3--127 to 152 centimeters (50 to 60 inches); black (N 2/0) silty clay loam, gray (N 5/0) dry; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; 8.0 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 65.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; many medium rounded strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron throughout; slight effervescence throughout; slightly alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Anb horizon is 76 to 152 centimeters (30 to 60 inches) thick)

Cn--152 to 203 centimeters (60 to 80 inches); stratified very dark gray (N 3/0) and black (N 2/0) silt loam and silty clay loam, gray (N 5/0) dry; massive; 6.0 mmhos/cm electrical conductivity equivalent; 40.0 dS/m sodium absorption ratio; many medium rounded strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) soft masses of iron throughout; slight effervescence throughout; slightly alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Lancaster County, Nebraska; about 3 kilometers (2 miles) east and 0.8 kilometers (0.5 mile) north of Raymond; 792 meters (2600 feet) south and 37 meters (120 feet) east of the northwest corner of Section 34, T. 12 N., R. 6 E.; lat. 41 degrees N. and long. 96 degrees W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: wet in the in the control section from November through July and moist from August through October
Mean annual soil temperature: 8 to 11 degrees C. (47 to 52 degrees F.)
Electrical conductivity: 8 to 20 mmhos/cm, but during seasons of above normal rainfall, conductivity may be less than 8 mmhos/cm
Sodium absorption ratio: greater than 13 dS/m throughout the series control section
Depth to redox concentrations: 8 to 23 centimeters (3 to 9 inches)
Depth to episaturation: 0 to 46 centimeters (0 to 18 inches) November to July

An horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 2 to 4, 4 to 6 dry
Chroma: 1 or 2
Texture: typically silt loam or silty clay loam and less commonly loam
Sodium Absorption Ratio: 13 to 90 dS/m
Electrical Conductivity: 4 to 20 mmhos/cm
Clay content: 15 to 30 percent
Sand content: 2 to 12 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Bn horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 or 5, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma: 1 or 2
Texture: typically silt loam or silty clay loam
Sodium Absorption Ratio: 13 to 90 dS/m
Electrical Conductivity: 4 to 20 mmhos/cm
Clay content: 18 to 40 percent
Sand content: 2 to 10 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline or moderately alkaline

Anb and C horizon:
Hue: 10YR, 2.5Y or neutral
Value: 2 to 4, 3 to 6 dry
Chroma: 0 to 2
Texture: Silt loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam.
Some pedons have thin layers of loam, clay loam and silty clay or coarser textured material.
Buried soils or dark layers of alluvium and stratification: common in the Anb and C horizons
Sodium Absorption Ratio: 13 to 90 dS/m
Electrical Conductivity: 4 to 20 mmhos/cm
Seams and nests of soluble salts: in the upper part in some pedons
Clay content: 18 to 40 percent
Sand content: 2 to 10 percent
Reaction: slightly alkaline to strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Brinnum and Saltine series.
Brinnum series are dry in all parts of the soil moisture control section for more than 45 days out of the 120 days following the summer solstice.
Saltine series are somewhat poorly drained with a seasonal high water table that ranges from 1.5 to 3.0 feet.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: silty alluvium high in exchangeable sodium
Landform: Floodplains
Slopes: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual temperature: 10 to 12 degrees C. (49 to 54 degrees F.)
Mean annual precipitation: 66 to 84 centimeters (26 to 33 inches)
Frost-free period: 150 to 170 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gibbon, Leshara, Lamo, Luton, Nodaway, Wood River, and Zook soils and Fluvaquents.
All of these soils contain less sodium and soluble salts throughout the particle size control section.
Nodaway soils and Fluvaquents do not have a mollic epipedon.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage: Poorly drained
Runoff: Low or very low
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low to moderately high
Flooding: occasionally or frequently flooded
Ponding: Brief duration
Depth to water table: 0 to 46 centimeters (0 to 1.5 feet)

USE AND VEGETATION: All of the acreage is in native grass. The common grasses are inland saltgrass, western wheatgrass, blue grama, and prairie cordgrass.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Mainly in eastern Nebraska. Series is of minor extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: SALINA, KANSAS

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Saunders County, Nebraska, 1995. The series name is from a township in Lancaster County.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are;
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 15 centimeters (6 inches) (An horizon)
Cambic horizon: 15 to 43 centimeters (6 to 17 inches) (Bn horizon)
Areas of similar soils were commonly mapped as Slickspots in former surveys, or as a saline-alkali, or wet, phase of an established series.

ADDITIONAL DATA; NSSL data from Lancaster County, Nebraska, pedon number S73NE-109-22.

Modified format by LRM in 6/2006 to include metric conversion and change permeability to saturated hydraulic conductivity.

CWL - 03/12/2020
Added native veg paragraph

In Nebraska, the native vegetative cover is a herbaceous wetland community commonly inhabited with inland saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum), annual marsh-elder (Iva annua), Plains bluegrass (Poa arida), saltwort (Salicornia rubra), prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), seablite (Suaeda calceoliformis). Source: Terrestrial Ecological Systems and Natural Communities of Nebraska, Version IV. S.B. Rolfsmeier and G. Steinauer. Nebraska Natural Heritage Program, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. 2010

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.