LOCATION SOMBORDORO NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haplustalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Sombordoro very stony very fine sandy loam - woodland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A11--0 to 3 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very stony very fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 40 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 4 inches thick)
A12--3 to 7 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) very stony sandy loam, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; soft, friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many very fine, fine and few coarse roots; many very fine and fine interstitial pores; 10 percent pebbles, 20 percent cobbles and 25 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
B2t--7 to 16 inches; yellowish red (5YR 4/6) extremely stony clay, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; strong medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, sticky and plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine tubular pores; many moderately thick clay films on faces of peds; 10 percent pebbles 15 percent cobbles, 40 percent stones; mildly alkaline (pH 7.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 11 inches thick)
R--16 inches; hard, red sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: San Miguel County, New Mexico; 1.5 miles northwest of HQ Tank on Road 46; NE1/4 NE1/4 sec. 25, T. 13 N., R. 15 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Sandstone rock fragments more than two feet in diameter are common throughout the pedon.
The A horizon has hue of 5YR through 10YR, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 2 through 6. Some pedons have an A2 horizon 1 to 3 inches thick with value of 5 to 7 and chroma of 2 through 4. This horizon is very stony very fine sandy loam to very cobbly loam.
The B horizon has hue of 5YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 6 and chroma of 4 through 6. It is extremely stony or very stony clay or sandy clay. It contains 35 to 80 percent rock fragments by volume. Carbonates are present immediately above the lithic contact in some pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Bernal and Tuloso series in other families. Bernal soils have a mollic epipedon. Tuloso soils lack an argillic horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Sombordoro soils are on uplands and have slopes of 0 to 45 percent. They formed in material weathered from sedimentary rocks, mainly sandstone. Elevations are 5,500 to 7,000 feet. The soils occur in a semiarid continental climate and receive about 75 percent of their moisture as summer showers between May and September. The mean annual precipitation is about 14 to 18 inches. The mean annual temperature is about 47 to 54 degrees F. The frost-free season is about 135 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ribera, Teco, and Vibo soils and the competing Tuloso soils. Ribera, Teco, and Vibo soils lack bedrock within a depth of 20 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium or rapid runoff; slow to moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for fuel wood production and livestock grazing. Vegetation is mainly one seed juniper, pinyon pine, wavy leaf oak, skunkbush sumac, ring muhly, blue grama and sideoats grama.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Foothills and plateaus in northern New Mexico. These soils are moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: San Miguel County Area, New Mexico, 1977.
REMARKS: The Sombordoro series was proposed by the U.S. Forest Service for soils in the El Pueblo grazing allotment.
OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 8/77.