LOCATION TAPIA NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Petronodic Ustic Calciargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Tapia loam with convex slopes of 0 to 15 percent slopes on piedmont fans and mesas. ( All colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 4 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; moderate very fine granular structure; soft, friable; many very fine sand fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
BA--4 to 7 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; many very fine and fine roots; common very fine and fine tubular pores; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)
Bt--7 to 16 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium prismatic structure parting to moderate fine and medium subangular blocky; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common very fine roots; common very fine tubular pores; common faint clay films on surface of peds; 5 percent petronodes; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bk1--16 to 24 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) clay loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, slightly sticky; few very fine roots; common very fine and fine pores; 5 percent petronodes; slightly effervescent, calcium carbonate is disseminated; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)
Bk2--24 to 65 inches; pinkish white (7.5YR 8/2) very gravelly loam, pinkish gray (7.5YR 7/2) moist; massive; 35 percent petronodes that are weakly cemented together in the upper few inches with cementation decreasing with depth; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Torrance County, New Mexico; Six miles Northeast of Mountainair; 1400 feet South and 1200 feet east of the North West corner of Sec. 1 T. 4 N., R. 7 E.; Latitude 34 degrees, 36 minutes, 18 seconds north; Longitude 106 degrees, 09 minutes, 36 seconds west.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: Usually dry, but is intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section April through October. The soil is driest during November and March.
Soil Temperature: 48 to 52 degrees F.
Particle-size Control Section - 22 to 35 percent clay.
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 16 to 24 inches
Calcium carbonate - 15 to 40 percent in the Bk horizons
Rock fragments in the A and Bt: less than 10 percent.
Reaction: neutral to moderately alkaline.
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist.
Chroma: of 3 or 4.
Texture: loam, sandy loam, and fine sandy loam.
Bt horizon:
Hue: of 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 to 7 dry, 4 to 6 moist,
Chroma: of 3 or 4.
Texture: sandy clay loam, loam or clay loam.
Clay content: 18 to 35 percent.
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR.
Value: 6 to 8 dry, 5 to 7 moist.
Chroma: 0 to 4.
Petronodes: 20 to 50 percent total (10 to 25 percent fine pebbles and 10 to 25 percent cobbles.
Texture: very gravelly loam, cobbly sandy loam; some areas have cobbly sand below 40 inches.
Other features: The material between the petronodes ranges from slightly hard to very hard and from firm to extremely firm. The lower Bk horizon is not consistently indurated and is not a petrocalcic horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series. A similar soil in the Ustic subgroup is the Scholle series. Scholle soils are gravelly in the control section and have rock fragments instead of petronodes.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Tapia soils are on summits of interfluves of undulating plains, plains of ancient alluvium, valley side slopes, and mesa tops. Slope ranges from 0 to 15 percent. The soils formed in calcareous medium to moderately fine textured material derived from mixed igneous and sedimentary rocks over gravelly very limy deposits. The average annual precipitation ranges from about 10 to 16 inches and the mean annual soil temperature ranges from 48 to 52 degrees F. The precipitation pattern is characterized by a marked summer maximum resulting from thunderstorms. The frost-free season ranges from 120 to 170 days. Elevations range from 5,400 to 7,200 feet.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Clovis, Dean, Harvey, Pastura, Scholle and Witt soils. Clovis and Scholle do not have a calcic horizons that consist of 20 to 50 percent cemented caliche fragments. Dean soils have carbonatic mineralogy and do not have an argillic horizon. Harvey soils do not have an argillic horizon and have less than 20 percent rock fragments in the calcic horizon. Pastura soils have a petrocalcic horizon and do not have an argillic horizon. Witt soils contain less than 15 percent sand coarser than very fine in the control section and have a calcic horizon at depths greater than 36 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderate. Runoff is negligible on slopes less than 1 percent slopes, low on 1 to 5 percent slopes and medium on 5 to 15 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used mainly as native rangeland and for wildlife. Native vegetation is mainly blue grama, sideoats grama, galleta, ring muhly, sand dropseed, Indian ricegrass, snakeweed, threeawn, and winterfat with some widely spaced pinyon and juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Central and north-central New Mexico. The soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Santa Fe County (Santa Fe Area), New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 7 inches. (A and BA horizons)
Argillic horizon: 7 to 16 inches. (Bt horizon)
Calcic horizon: 16 to 65 inches. (Bk horizons)
Petronodic feature: The presence of greater than 20 percent petronodes within 40 inches that is more than 6 inches thick. (Bk2 horizon)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.