LOCATION SIMONA NM+TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Typic Petrocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Simona fine sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 8 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; weak very thin platy structure in the upper 1/2 to 1 inch grading to weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable; many very fine roots; common very fine pores; 5 percent angular caliche gravel; common worm casts; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bk--8 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) fine sandy loam; brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, very friable; many very fine and fine roots; common very fine and few fine pores; 10 percent caliche gravel; many worm casts; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt boundary. (3 to 10 inches thick)
Bkm-- 16 to 30 inches; whitish caliche, thick platy and indurated in the upper foot grading below into nodular partially cemented caliche; upper foot shows brownish internal bands parallel with the surface and locally of a hardness approaching 5 in the Moh's scale; nodular or "mammillary" surfaces indicative of deposition of calcium carbonate are common; the content of calcium carbonate exceeds 50 percent; (10 to 40 inches thick)
BCk--30 to 80 inches; white (10YR 8/1); massive; soft calcium carbonate soil material with a loam texture; 15 percent strongly cemented caliche fragments, 25 percent moderately cemented caliche fragments; most caliche fragments have a laminar cap 1 to 2 mm thick; violently effervescent.
TYPE LOCATION: Lea County, New Mexico; on 1/4 line, 0.3 mile west of east side of section 10; east central part of section 10,T.22S., R.33E.; 103 degrees, 32 minutes, 41 second - west longitude; 32 degrees, 24 minutes, 22 seconds - north latitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - the soil moisture control section is usually dry in all parts more than three fourth of the time that the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F. but are moist more than 20 days cumulative. Typic aridic moisture regime.
Soil temperature - 59 to 71 degrees F.
Soil depth - depth to the petrocalcic horizon ranges from 7 to 20 inches.
Coarse fragments - caliche fragments larger than 2-mm range from less than 1 percent to about 35 percent by volume.
The A and B horizons are typically strongly calcareous throughout but ranges to noncalcareous in the upper few inches.
A horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR.
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 or 4 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loamy fine sand, loamy sand, and gravelly loam.
Bk horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR.
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4.
Texture: sandy loam, fine sandy loam and loam with less than 18 percent clay and more than 40 percent sand.
Coarse fragments: 5 to 35 percent.
Bkm horizon
Other features: Pink to white and ranges from nearly continuously indurated with a few fractures to indurated caliche plate shaped fragments typically weakly to strongly cemented together.
BCk horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR
Value: 7 or 8
Chroma: 1 through 3
Other features: It is carbonatic soil material with loam texture. The percent coarse fragments range from 25 to 60 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Cave (AZ), Goodsprings (NV), Irongold (NV), and Vace (NV) series. Cave soils are in the Sonoran Desert (MLRA 40) have a moisture regime with almost equal (bi-modal) summer-winter distribution of precipitation. Goodsprings, Irongold, and Vace soils are in the Mohave Desert (MLRA 30) receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Simona soils are on nearly level to moderately undulating plains and tops of mesa and low ridges at elevations of 2,750 to 5,000 feet. Relief is generally low. Drainage is typically depressional "pot holes", intermittent ponds or elongated swales but some areas are dissected by shallow drainageways that form low ridges where the Simona soils occur on the ridge tops. The soils formed in calcareous sandy sediments over fractured indurated caliche that grades to softer caliche material below. It has been considerably modified in its upper part by recent environmental factors. The climate is arid to semiarid continental. The average annual temperature ranges from about 58 to 70 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation ranges from 8 to about 14 inches with a marked late summer maximum. The Thornthwaite P-E Index ranges from about 14 to 30. The frost free period is 180 to 230 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Berino, Bigetty, Cacique, Pajarito, Pintura, Tencee, Tonuco and Upton soils. Berino soils are in depressional areas and have argillic horizons. Bigetty soils are in the depressions and have mollic epipedons. Cacique soils have argillic and petrocalcic horizons. Pajarito and Pintura soils are on plains and fans and lack petrocalcic horizons. Tencee and Upton soils have carbonatic mineralogy. Tonuco soils are sandy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderately rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used principally for rangeland. Native vegetation is mainly short and mid grasses, largely grama grass plus a minor proportion of sand bluestem and little bluestem.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas. It is of large extent. MLRAs 42, 77C, 77D.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lea County, New Mexico, 1964.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to 8 inches. (A horizon)
Petrocalcic horizon - the zone from 16 to 30 inches. (Bkm horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL data Sample numbers: S87NM 015 007, S59NM 013 011, S88NM 013 100,