LOCATION SOLLER PREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, mixed, active, isohyperthermic, shallow Typic Haprendolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Soller clay - pasture. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) clay; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; many fine roots; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 6 inches thick)
Bw--5 to 12 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) clay; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; firm, slightly sticky, plastic; few fine roots; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Cr--12 to 26 inches; white (10YR 8/1) partially weathered limestone that can be penetrated with the spade. (10 to 16 inches thick)
R-26+ inches; hard fragmental limestone.
TYPE LOCATION: Culebrinas SCD, Puerto Rico. Approximately 4 miles west of the town of Laras and about 1,150 feet north of kilometer marker 28.45 on Highway 111.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Depth to the hard fragmental limestone ranges from 20 to 34 inches. Reaction ranges from neutral to moderately alkaline in the surface layer and from slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline in the subsoil. Calcium carbonate equivalent in the solum is more than 40 percent.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Content of cobbles range from 0 to 30 percent, by volume. Texture is clay in the fine earth fraction.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is clay.
The Cr horizon consists of soft weathered limestone that can be penetrated with a spade.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other known series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Soller soils are on hilltops and side slopes of limestone hills. They formed in regolith consisting of fine textured residuum derived from limestone. The climate is humid tropical. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent. The average annual temperature ranges from 76 to 78 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation ranges from 80 to 90 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Camaguey, Colinas, Naranjo, and Santa Clara series. The somewhat poorly drained Camaguey soils are very deep, have smectitic control sections, are Vertisols, and are on slower foot slope positions. Colinas soils are on similar positions, are moderately deep, and have coarse-loamy, carbonatic control sections. Naranjo soils are very deep, have fine carbonatic control sections and are on similar to lower positions. Santa Clara soils are moderately deep, have fine mixed control sections and are on lower foot slope positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Soller soils are used as pasture. The vegetation consists of native and introduced species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid limestone areas in the northern coastal plains of Puerto Rico. The series is of moderate extent, about 65,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soil Survey of Puerto Rico; 1942.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
Mollic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 12 inches (Ap and Bw horizons).
Cambic horizon - the zone from 5 to 12 inches (Bw horizon).
Paralithic contact - depth at 12 inches (Cr horizon).
Lithic contact - depth at 26 inches (R horizon).