LOCATION SONIC NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, carbonatic, thermic Ustifluventic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Sonic very gravelly fine sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) crushed, very gravelly fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) crushed, moist; 16 percent clay; weak fine granular structure; very friable, soft, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots throughout; 45 percent subrounded 0.1- to 3.0-inch limestone fragments; violent effervescence, by HCl, 1 normal; moderately alkaline, pH 8.2, pH meter 1:1 water; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--3 to 11 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) crushed, gravelly fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) crushed, moist; 18 percent clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots throughout; few fine dendritic tubular pores; 15 percent subrounded 0.1- to 3.0-inch limestone fragments; violent effervescence, by HCl, 1 normal; moderately alkaline, pH 8.3, pH meter 1:1 water; abrupt wavy boundary. (6 to 13 inches thick)
Bw2--11 to 26 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) crushed, extremely cobbly fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) crushed, moist; 20 percent clay; weak fine granular structure; friable, soft, nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots throughout; 30 percent subrounded 3.0- to 10-inch limestone fragments and 50 percent subrounded 0.1- to 3.0-inch limestone fragments; violent effervescence, by HCl, 1 normal; moderately alkaline, pH 8.4, pH meter 1:1 water; abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 20 inches thick)
Bw3--26 to 38 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) crushed, gravelly silt loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) crushed, moist; 20 percent clay; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots throughout; few fine dendritic tubular pores; 20 percent subrounded 0.1- to 3.0-inch limestone fragments; violent effervescence, by HCl, 1 normal; moderately alkaline, pH 8.2, pH meter 1:1 water; abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 29 inches thick)
Bw4--38 to 80 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) crushed, extremely cobbly silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) crushed, moist; 22 percent clay; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; 30 percent subrounded 3.0- to 10-inch limestone fragments and 50 percent subrounded 0.1- to 3.0-inch limestone fragments; violent effervescence, by HCl, 1 normal; moderately alkaline, pH 8.2, pH meter 1:1 water.
TYPE LOCATION: Otero County, New Mexico; approximately 11.2 miles east and 0.1 miles north of Oro Grande, 925 feet south and 50 feet west of the northeast corner of sec. 22, T. 22 S., R. 10 E. USGS Wilde Tank topographic quadrangle; latitude 32 degrees, 22 minutes, 55.5 seconds north and longitude 105 degrees 53 minutes, 51.5 seconds west. UTM zone 13S, 415565E, 3582955N; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: The moisture control section is usually dry in all parts less than three-fourths of the time that the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 61 to 65 degrees F.
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 18 to 27 percent
Coarse fragment content: 35 to 60 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 40 to 60 percent (less than 20 mm fraction)
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture modifier: gravelly or very gravelly
Coarse fragments: limestone fragments; 15 to 55 percent total coarse fragments; 15 to 55 percent gravel, 0 to 10 percent cobbles
Bw horizons:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist
Texture: fine sandy loam, loams, or silt loam
Texture modifier: gravelly, very gravelly, extremely gravelly, very cobbly, or extremely cobbly
Coarse fragments: limestone fragments; 35 to 60 percent total coarse fragments (weighted average); individual horizons may contain 15 to 55 percent gravel; 0 to 35 cobbles
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Alluvium from limestone
Landform: inset fans on fan piedmonts
Slope: 1 to 15 percent
Mean annual temperature: 60 to 64 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 10 to 12 inches
Precipitation pattern: precipitation falls mostly during the months of July through September. The driest months are March and April. Precipitation during the months of January, February, and March is less than 13 percent of the total.
Frost-free period: 170 to 210 days
Elevation: 4,200 to 5,300 feet
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Bankston,
Crossen,
Infantry,
Mariola,
Reyab, and
Tinney soils.
Reyab and Tinney soils have less than 35 percent gravel in the series control section and are on inset fans.
Crossen and Infantry soils are very shallow and shallow to a petrocalcic horizon and are on erosion remnants.
Mariola soils are moderately deep to a petrocalcic horizon and are on erosion remnants.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderately slow. Runoff is medium on slopes of 1 to 5 percent, high on slopes of 5 to 15 percent.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing. Vegetation is of the desert grassland type consisting of bush muhly, black grama, tridens spp., plains bristlegrass, creosotebush, whitethorn acacia, range ratany, mariola, ephredra, and Torrey's yucca.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New Mexico; LRR D, MLRA 42; small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Otero County, New Mexico; 2001.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 40 inches. (Bw1, Bw2, Bw3, and Bw4 horizons)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 3 inches. (A horizon)
Cambic horizon: The zone from 3 to 80 inches. (Bw1, Bw2, Bw3, and Bw4 horizons)
Fluventic features: irregular decrease in organic carbon.
The assignment of the cation-exchange activity class is inferred from lab data from similar soils in the surrounding area.