LOCATION SARAGOTE                NM

Established Series
Rev. MWR/RJA/KLS
11/2022

SARAGOTE SERIES

The Saragote series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that formed in alluvium derived from metamorphic rocks. Saragote soils are on mountain slopes. Slopes are 2 to 5 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 840 mm and the mean annual air temperature is about 2 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, superactive Aquic Argicryolls

TYPICAL PEDON: Saragote loam - woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted)

Oi--0 to 3 cm; decomposing organic matter.

A--3 to 23 cm; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) loam, black (10YR 2/1) moist; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles: moderate coarse granular structure; slightly hard, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common medium, many fine and very fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; 5 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (20 to 25 cm thick)

Bt1--23 to 38 cm; brown (10YR 5/3) very cobbly clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; few fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles; strong fine subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common medium, many fine and very fine roots; common fine and few very fine tubular pores; few thin clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 10 percent pebbles, 25 percent cobbles; moderately acid; clear wavy boundary. (8 to 20 cm thick)

Bt2--38 to 84 cm; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) very cobbly clay, brown (7.5YR 5/2) moist; common large distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few medium, common fine and few very fine roots; common fine and few very fine tubular pores; many moderately thick clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 10 percent pebbles, 30 percent cobbles; moderately acid; gradual wavy boundary. (45 to 80 cm thick)

C--84 to 155 cm; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very cobbly clay, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; common large distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) mottles; massive; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few medium, fine and very fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 10 percent pebbles, 30 percent cobbles; moderately acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico; about 18 km east of Tierra Amarilla; New Mexico, state plane coordinates 2,077,622 north and 467,958 east; long. 106 degrees, 21 minutes, 36 second W; lat. 36 degrees, 42 minutes, 36 seconds N.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture--saturated in some part of the SMCS during spring and early summer
Mean annual soil temperature--3 to 4 degrees C
Mean summer soil temperature--4 to 6 degrees C
Thickness of mollic epipedon--25 to 36 cm
Depth to mottles--0 to 60 cm
Depth to water table--50 to 100 cm from March through June, due to snowmelt water
Other features: chromas in the lower part of the mollic epipedon are typically 3. In areas with chroma of 2 or less in the lower part, mottles are below 45 cm.

Particle-size control section:
Clay content--35 to 50 percent clay
Reaction--pH 5.6 to 6.1

A horizon
Value--3 or 4 dry, 2 or 3 moist
Chroma-1 or 2
Rock fragment content--0 to 10 percent cobbles

Bt horizon
Value--5 or 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Texture--clay loam or clay
Rock fragment content--10 to 15 percent pebbles, 25 to 40 percent cobbles

C horizon
Texture--clay loam or cobbly clay
Rock fragment content--10 to 15 percent pebbles, 25 to 40 percent cobbles

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in the same family. A similar soil is Animas(CO). Animas soils are 50 to 100 cm to a paralithic contact and have less than 35 percent clay in the particle-size control section.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform-mountain slopes
Elevation--2900 to 3475 meters
Slope--2 to 5 percent
Parent material-alluvium derived from metamorphic rock
Mean annual precipitation--810 to 890 mm
Mean annual air temperature--2 to 3 degrees C
Frost-free--50 to 70 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow runoff; slow permeability

USE AND VEGETATION: Saragote soils are used for wood products, livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is a forest of Englemann spruce, corkbark fir, subalpine fir, aspen with understory of subalpine timothy, mutton grass, and blue grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Saragote soils are moderately extensive in the mountains of northcentral New Mexico; MLRA 48A.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, 1989

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Mollic epipedon--3 to 38 cm (A and Bt1 horizons)
Argillic horizon--23 to 84 cm (Bt horizons)
Particle-size control section--23 to 83 cm (Bt1 and most of Bt2 horizon)

Converted to metric, updated formatting, and O horizons were updated to start at zero. Competing series section was not updated. 11/2022

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.