LOCATION SOCORRO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, mesic Ustic Haplocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Socorro very gravelly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 3 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few fine and very fine roots; 30 percent basalt pebbles and 15 percent basalt cobbles; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bk1--3 to 10 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very cobbly loam, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few very fine roots; 20 percent basalt pebbles, 20 percent cobbles, and 10 percent basalt stones, most with thin continuous coatings of calcium carbonate; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick)
Bk2--10 to 28 inches; very pale brown (10YR 8/3) extremely stony loam; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) moist; massive; hard, firm, slightly sticky and nonplastic; few very fine roots; 10 percent basalt pebbles and 70 percent basalt stones, all with thick coatings of calcium carbonate; violently effervescent; strongly alkaline (pH 8.8); abrupt irregular boundary. (10 to 21 inches thick)
R--28 inches; basalt with calcium carbonate coatings on surface.
TYPE LOCATION: Socorro County, New Mexico; 3 miles south and 20 miles east of Bingham, 110 feet east and 900 feet north of the southwest corner of Sec. 29, T. 5 S., R. 9 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section December through March and July through September. The soil is driest during May and June.
Soil Temperature: 50 to 57 degrees F.
Depth to bedrock: 20 to 40 inches
Particle-size control section: 20 to 30 percent clay, 35 to
80 percent rock fragments dominated by pebbles, cobbles, or
stones
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 to 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 8 dry, 3 to 7 moist
Chroma: 3 to 5
Fine-earth fraction: loam, silt loam, or clay loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 40 to 60 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Ildecarb (NM), Ladron (NM), Moab (UT), Puice (NM), Stormitt (UT), Storsun (WY), and Tusayan (AZ) series. Ildecarb, Ladron, Moab, Storsun, and Stormitt soils are more than 40 inches to bedrock. Puice soils have more than 5 percent gypsum. Tusayan soils contain limestone and calcareous sandstone rock fragments.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Socorro soils are on bassalt surfaces. Slope ranges from 0 to 8 percent. They formed in alluvium derived from basalt and eolian material. The mean annual temperature ranges from 48 to 57 degrees F., mean annual precipitation ranges from 10 to 12 inches, but has ranged to 15 inches in the past. The frost-free period ranges from about 140 to 190 days. Elevation ranges from 5,200 to 6,200 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Gabaldon and Witt soils. Gabaldon and Witt soils are deep and are in drainageways and sinkholes adjacent to Socorro soils.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is negligible on slopes less than 1 percent, very low on 1 to 5 percent slopes and low on 5 to 8 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly for rangeland. The present vegetation is galleta, blue grama, burro-grass, mat muhly, ring muhly, cholla, snakeweed, and Russian Thistle.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: South central New Mexico. Socorro soils are of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Lincoln County, New Mexico, 1981.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 3 inches. (A horizon)
Calcic horizon: 3 to 28 inches (Bk horizons)
Lithic feature: basalt at a depth of 28 inches