LOCATION SPRABERRY TX+NM

Established Series
TCB-RM
05/2016

SPRABERRY SERIES

The Spraberry series consists of soils that are very shallow and shallow, well drained, and moderately permeable above a very slowly permeable petrocalcic horizon. These soils formed in calcareous, loamy eolian deposits in the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age. Spraberry soils are on nearly level to gently sloping plains. Slope ranges from 0 to 5 percent. The mean annual precipitation is 406 mm (16 in) and the mean annual temperature is 16 degrees C (61 degrees F).

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, active, thermic, shallow Ustalfic Petrocalcids

TYPICAL PEDON: Spraberry fine sandy loam, on a nearly level plain, 0.5 percent slopes in rangeland at an elevation of about 1,397 meters (4,585 ft). (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)

A--0 to 9 cm (0 to 3 in); strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium granular structure; soft, very friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; many fine roots throughout; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (Thickness is 8 to 20 cm [3 to 8 in].)

Bt--9 to 27 cm (3 to 10 in); strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many fine roots; few faint discontinuous clay films on ped surfaces; neutral; abrupt smooth boundary. (Thickness is 10 to 36 cm [4 to 14 in].)

Bkkm--27 to 51 cm (10 to 20 in); pinkish white (5YR 8/2) indurated platy caliche; laminar in the upper 2 inches; undersides of plates have small pendants of calcium carbonate up to 1 cm in length; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline (Thickness is 10 to 102 cm [4 to 40 in].)

BCkk--51 to 203 cm (20 to 80 in); white (10YR 8/1) gravelly loam, white (10YR 8/1) moist; massive; about 25 percent by volume gravel size calcium carbonate nodules that are strongly cemented; about 65 percent calcium carbonate by total volume as masses, nodules, and finely disseminated carbonates; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Roosevelt County, New Mexico; from the intersection of Highway 70 and Highway 114 in Elida; 0.75 miles south on Highway 114 to Roosevelt Road AK ; approximately 8.1 miles south on Roosevelt Road AK to Roosevelt County Road 30 S.; 2 miles west on Roosevelt County Road 30 S. to Roosevelt County Road AM; 1.8 miles south on Roosevelt County Road AM to private road; 0.8 miles west on private road; 0.25 miles northwest on private road; 0.25 west on private road; 40 ft northeast in rangeland; SE of the NW of S. 18, T. 6 S, R. 32 E. of Section 18, Township 6 S, Range 32 E; Latitude: 33 degrees, 47 minute, 39.9 seconds N; Longitude: 103 degrees, 42 minutes, 15.0 seconds W; Schram Lake, New Mexico, USGS quad; NAD 83.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: An aridic moisture regime bordering on ustic. The soil moisture control section is dry in some or all parts for more than 205 but less than 270 days, cumulative, in normal years. November through April normally is the driest months. These soils are intermittently moist in May through October.
Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 18 degrees C (59 to 64 degrees F).
Depth to petrocalcic horizon: 20 to 50 cm (8 to 20 in).
Particle-size control section: less than 30 percent silicate clay.
Solum thickness: more than 203 cm (80 in).

A horizon:
Hue: 5YR or 7.5YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam
Effervescence: none or very slight
Reaction: neutral to slightly alkaline
Note: epipedons with moist value and chroma 3 or less are less than 18 cm (7 in) thick or have less than 0.6 percent organic carbon

Bt horizons:
Hue: 2.5YR to 7.5YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 8
Texture: fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam
Silicate clay content: 18 to 30 percent
Visible calcium carbonate: few fine films and threads
Effervescence: none to slight
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline

Bkkm horizon:
Thickness: dominantly 15 to 30 cm thick (6 to 12 in), but ranges up to 60 cm (24 in) in some pedons.
Cementation: indurated to strongly cemented and contains a few fractures and solution channels.

BCkk horizons:
Hue: 2.5YR to 10YR
Value: 4 to 8 dry, 3 to 7 moist
Chroma: 3 to 8
Texture: sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam and their gravelly counterparts
Rock fragments: 10 to 90 percent, gravel size, moderately to strongly cemented caliche
Visible calcium carbonate: 50 to 90 percent by volume as masses, nodules, and finely disseminated carbonates
Effervescence: violent
Reaction: moderately or strongly alkaline

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this family. Similar soils include the Blakeney, Douro, Eunice (T-NM), Kenhill (T-NM), Kimbrough, Pojo, Sharvana, and Simona series.
Blakeney, Kimbrough, and Simona soils: have mixed mineralogy and do not have an argillic horizon.
Douro and Kenhill soils: have a petrocalcic horizon between 50 and 100 cm (20 and 39 in) and have argillic horizons.
Eunice soils: do not have an argillic horizon.
Pojo soils: have less than 18 percent silicate clay in the particle-size control section, have a superactive cation exchange activity class and are dry in the soil moisture control section for slightly longer periods.
Sharvana soils: have mixed mineralogy and are moist in the soil moisture control section for longer periods.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: calcareous, loamy eolian deposits from the Blackwater Draw Formation of Pleistocene age.
Landform: nearly level to gently sloping plains.
Slope: 0 to 5 percent.
Mean annual air temperature: 14 to 17 degrees C. (57 to 63 degrees F).
Mean annual precipitation: 356 to 432 mm (14 to 17 in).
Frost-free period: 180 to 220 days.
Elevation: 762 to 1,402 m (2,500 to 4,600 ft).
Thornthwaite annual P-E Index Values: 22 to 26.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the similar Douro and Eunice (NM) series and also the Amarose (NM), Montoya and VestwellsTucumcari soils.
AmarosesVestwells soils: are on similar landscape positions and do not have a petrocalcic horizon.
Douro and Eunice soils: are on similar landscape positions.
Montoya and Tucumcari soils: are on lower landscape positions and formed in Triassic geology.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained and moderately permeable above and below the very slowly permeable petrocalcic horizon. Surface runoff is medium on less than 1 percent slopes and high on 1 to 5 percent slopes.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are almost exclusively used for rangeland. Climax vegetation includes sideoats grama, little bluestem, buffalograss, hairy grama, slim tridens, purple and wright threeawns, bushsunflower, gray goldaster, daleas, gayfeather, plains blackfoot, sundrops, catclaw, ephedra, hackberry, and javelinabush. This soil has been correlated to the Shallow (R077DY048TX) ecological site in MLRA-77D.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern High Plains of west Texas and eastern New
Mexico (MLRA-77D). The series is of minor extent.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Temple, Texas

SERIES ESTABLISHED: MLRA-77 Soil Survey Update; Roosevelt County, New Mexico, 2016

REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the Sharvana series.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:

Ochric epipedon: 0 to 9 cm (0 to 3 in) A horizon.
Argillic horizon: 9 to 27 cm (3 to 10 in) Bt horizon.
Petrocalcic horizon: 27 to 51 cm (10 to 20 in) Bkkm horizon.
Calcic horizon: 51 to 203 cm (20 to 80 in) BCkk horizon.

ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL data number - S85TX-329-002 (Midland County, TX), S11NM041375 (Roosevelt County, NM).

Taxonomic Version: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eleventh Edition, 2010.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.