LOCATION TERINO NM+TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic, shallow Ustalfic Petrocalcids
TYPICAL PEDON: Terino very gravelly sandy loam, rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface has a closely packed desert pavement of angular rhyolite gravel.
A--0 to 2 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; weak medium platy and weak fine granular structure; soft, loose; few medium roots; gravel partially stained yellowish red (5YR 4/6) and yellowish red (5YR 5/6); slightly alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary (1 to 3 inches thick).
Bt--2 to 9 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very gravelly heavy sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; gravel discontinuously stained yellowish red (5YR 4/6); gravel and sand grains coated with silicate clay; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary (3 to 8 inches thick).
Btk--9 to 15 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) very gravelly sandy clay loam, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; gravel discontinuously stained yellowish red (5YR 4/6); gravel and sand grains coated with silicate clay; few carbonate filaments on gravel and faces of peds; common fine tubular pores, some with roots and weak carbonate accumulations; few volumes in lower part are dark red (2.5YR 3/6); generally noncalcareous with scattered calcareous parts; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary (4 to 9 inches thick).
Bkm--15 to 21 inches; very gravelly, carbonate cemented material with a gravel studded, discontinuously laminar upper surface; extremely hard; no roots except in scattered pockets of loose, uncemented, carbonate rich material; few lenses with 5YR hue in upper part; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary.
Bk1--21 to 32 inches; pink (7.5YR 7/4) very gravelly, discontinuously carbonate cemented material; hard; generally massive with some single grained parts between gravel; few fine roots; gravel thickly coated with carbonate and some are cemented together in clusters; moderately alkaline; violently effervescent; clear wavy boundary.
Bk2--32 to 80 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) very gravelly heavy sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; gravel thinly coated with carbonate; a few clusters of carbonate cemented gravel; violently effervescent; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Dona Ana County, New Mexico; (Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project); 50 feet east of the Soledad Canyon Road; in the NE 1/4 of section 21, T.23 S., R.3 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December - April and for more than 20 days cumulative during July - September. Driest during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 59 to 68 degrees F.
Organic carbon: Weighted average of the upper 15 inches or the upper 7 inches if the petrocalcic horizon is shallower than 15 inches but deeper than 7 inches, ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 percent.
Depth to the petrocalcic horizon: 8 to 20 inches.
A horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR
Value: 3 through 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 6, dry or moist
Texture of fine earth: sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam
Rock fragment: 15 to 50 percent gravel
Bt horizon
Hue: 2.5YR through 7.5YR
Value: 3 through 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: very gravelly sandy loam, very gravelly sandy clay loam, very gravelly loam, very gravelly clay loam, extremely gravelly loam, and extremely gravelly clay loam and averages 18 to 35 percent clay and more than 35 percent rock fragments
Other features: Structure ranges from weak fine or very fine crumb to weak to moderate, fine or medium subangular blocky
Carbonate accumulation in the lower part of the Bt horizon is weak and consists mainly of thin coatings on gravel. Upper part of the Bt is noneffervescent
Bkm horizon
Other features: It is continuously indurated except for scattered cracks in which roots commonly extend, and a few other zones of less continuous induration
Bk and BCk horizons
Carbonate content: decreases with depth
Texture: very gravelly or extremely gravelly sandy loam, loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Twinpeaks (TX) series. Twinpeaks soils are inactive.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Terino soils are on alluvial fans, fan piedmonts, and terraces. Slopes are usually 2 or 3 percent but range from about 1 to 12 percent. The elevation is 3,400 to 5,700 feet. The soils formed in dominantly very gravelly sediments derived primarily from such rocks as rhyolite, andesite and chert. The mean annual air temperature is 58 to 68 degrees F. The mean annual precipitation is 9 to 16 inches with a summer maximum.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bodecker, Buckear, Bullis, Philabo, Caralampi, Casito, Hueco, and Nolam soils. Bodecker and Philabo soils lack argillic and petrocalcic horizons. Buckear soils are shallow to a paralithic contact. Bullis soils do not have a petrocalcic horizon. Delnorte soils do not have argillic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Permeability is moderately slow. Runoff is very low on 1 to 3 percent slopes, low on 3 to 5 percent slopes, medium on 5 to 12 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Some areas are used for livestock grazing, others are idle. Dominant native plants are range ratany, creosotebush, snakeweed, Mormon tea, fluffgrass, and small amounts of black grama, bush muhly, gray thorn, and Yucca baccata.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New Mexico and Southwest Texas. MLRA 42. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dona Ana County, New Mexico, 1972.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 2 inches (A horizon). When colors meet the requirements of a mollic epipedon, the horizon is less than 7 inches thick.
Argillic horizon - the zone from 2 to 15 inches (Bt and Btk horizons)
Petrocalcic horizon - the zone from 15 to 21 inches (Bkm horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy, Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.
Update and revisions for recorrelation of Brewster County, Texas, Main Part, 2/12/08, CEM
This series represents an identified soil within the Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. The project was a study of soils and geomorphology in an arid and semi-arid environment. The series is extensively referenced in many documents, publications and thesis. Revision outside the project area is discouraged in order to preserve the historical concept for research.