LOCATION TEJA PREstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, subactive, isohyperthermic Humic Lithic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Teja gravelly sandy loam-pasture (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 7 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; nonsticky, nonplastic; common fine roots; many fine quartz grains; about 30 percent, by volume, rock fragments; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
C-- 7 to 14 inches; 50 percent brown (10YR 4/3) and 50 percent yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam; single grain, loose; nonsticky, nonplastic; few fine roots; about 40 percent, by volume, angular rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)
R--14 inches; indurated, coarse grained plutonic rock.
TYPE LOCATION: Este SCD, Puerto Rico; municipality of Yabucoa. Barrio Candelero Abajo. About 25 feet south of kilometer marker 2.7 of P.R. Highway 906.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to the hard plutonic rock ranges from 10 to 20 inches. CEC is 24 to 40 meq/100 grams of clay or more in all horizons above the lithic contact. Reaction ranges from strongly to very strongly acid throughout. Weighted average of gravel in the particle-size control section ranges from 35 to 50 percent.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is gravelly or very gravelly sandy loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture ranges from very gravelly loam to very gravelly sandy loam.
The R horizon consists of indurated plutonic rock.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known competing series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Teja soils are on upland side slopes. Slopes range from 12 to 40 percent. They formed in regolith consisting of gravelly shallow residuum that was derived from plutonic rocks, mainly quartz diorite or granodiorite. The climate is humid tropical. The average annual rainfall ranges from 80 to 90 inches and the average annual temperature ranges from 77 to 80 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Candelero, Cayagua, Mayo, Patillas, and Pandura series. The somewhat poorly drained Candelero and Cayagua are on lower positions, are very deep, have argillic horizons, and have more fines in the control section. The well to excessively drained Mayo soils are on lower positions, are very deep, and have fewer rock fragments in the control section. Patillas and Pandura series are on similar positions, formed in more weathered and softer plutonic rocks, and have fewer rock fragments in the control section. In addition, Patillas soils are very deep and have argillic horizons while Pandura soils do not have an umbric epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Teja soils are in native grasses and used as pasture. A few small areas are in sugar cane and minor crops. The vegetation consists of native and introduced grasses and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Humid plutonic uplands. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Soil Survey of Puerto Rico, 1942.
REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this pedon:
Umbric epipedon the zone from 0 to 7 inches (A horizon).
Skeletal feature more than 35 percent weighted average rock fragments in the particle-size control section (A and C horizons).
Lithic contact the contact at the upper boundary of indurated plutonic bedrock at 14 inches (R horizon).