LOCATION TUCUMCARI NM+TXEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, smectitic, thermic Ustertic Haplargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Tucumcari clay loam, on an alluvial flat, 1 percent slope in rangeland at an elevation of about 1,280 meters (4,200 ft). (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 13 cm (0 to 5 in); reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay loam, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate fine granular structure; soft, very friable, sticky and plastic; many very fine and fine roots; strongly effervescent; finely disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (13 to 38 cm thick)
Btk1--13 to 41 cm (5 to 16 in); reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; hard, firm, very sticky and plastic; common fine roots; few very fine pores; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; finely disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Btk2--41 to 76 cm (16 to 30 in); reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; common very fine pores; few distinct clay films on the faces of peds; strongly effervescent; finely disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Btk3--76 to 114 cm (30 to 45 in); reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; very hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; few fine roots; common very fine pores; few distinct clay films on faces of peds; strongly effervescent; few fine filaments of calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (combined thickness of Btk horizons is 69 to 127 cm)
Bk--114 to 200 cm (45 to 80 in); reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) clay, dark reddish brown (2.5YR 3/4) moist; weak medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; very hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; strongly effervescent; few fine threads or filaments of calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: De Baca County, New Mexico; 6.5 miles east of the intersection of U.S. Highway 84 and U.S. Highway 60 in Fort Sumner to La Lande, approximately 17 miles south of La Lande, or 2,200 feet north and 1,100 feet east of the southwest corner of sec. 29, T. 15, R. 27 E. in rangeland; Latitude: 34 degrees, 11 minutes, 32 seconds N; Longitude: 104 degrees, 07 minutes, 51 seconds W; Eighteen Mile Hill, New Mexico USGS quad; NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture regime: An aridic moisture regime bordering on ustic. The soil moisture control section is dry in all parts for 190 days to 220 days, cumulative, in normal years. Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section May through October. The soil is driest November through April when less than 33 percent of the total precipitation falls.
Mean annual soil temperature: 15 to 17 degrees C.
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 15 percent.
Solum thickness: 100 to 200 cm.
Veric properties: COLE ranges from 0.06 to about 0.08.
Particle-size control section: 35 to 60 percent silicate clay.
A horizon:
Hue: 2.5YR to 7.5YR
Value: 3 to 5, 2 to 4 moist
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: loam, sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, clay loam
Silicate clay content: 35 to 60 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 3 percent
Effervescence: strong
Reaction: moderately alkaline
Btk horizons:
Hue: 2.5YR to 7.5YR
Value: 4 to 6, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, clay loam, clay, silty clay
Silicate clay content: 35 to 50 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: less than 15 percent as threads and films
Effervescence: strong
Reaction: moderately alkaline
Bk horizon:
Hue: 2.5YR or 5YR
Value: 4 to 6, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6
Texture: sandy clay loam, clay loam
Silicate clay content: 25 to 40 percent
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 5 to 15 percent
Effervescence: strong to violent
Reaction: moderately alkaline
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Hassell series.
Hassell series: has a paralithic contact with shale within 50 to 100 cm of the soil surface.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: formed in moderately fine textured calcareous alluvium derived from redbed siltstone, shale and sandstone of the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary periods that may have been altered by wind.
Landform: on slightly convex alluvial fans and valley-filling slopes.
Slopes: 0 to 5 percent.
Mean annual temperature: 15 to 17 degrees C (56 to 62 degrees F).
Mean annual precipitation: 305 to 406 mm (12 to 16 inches).
Frost-free period: 180 to 200 days.
Elevation: 1,160 to 1,620 meters (3,800 to 5,300 ft).
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing
Hassell soils, and the
La Lande,
Montoya and
Quay series.
Hassell soils: have a paralithic contact at 50 to 100 cm from the soil surface.
La Lande, Montoya and Quay soils: do not have an argillic horizon, in addition Montoya soils have cracks 1 cm or more wide when dry and La Lande and Quay soils contain 18 to 25 percent clay in the particle-size control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Moderately slow permeability. Surface runoff is negligible on 0 to 1 percent slopes, very low on 1 to 3 percent slopes, and low on 3 to 5 percent slopes.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used almost entirely for livestock grazing. A small amount is cultivated under irrigation. Native vegetation is principally blue grama, galleta, alkali sacaton, sideoats grama, black grama, buffalograss, four-wing saltbush, western wheatgrass, vine-mesquite, cholla cactus, ring muhly, and broom snakeweed. This series has been correlated to the Clayey (R070XB053NM) range site in New Mexico and the Clay Flat (070EY662TX) range site in Texas.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Upper Pecos River Valley (MLRA 70B in LRR G) in the valleys of the Canadian River, Pecos River, and Ute Creek of eastern New Mexico and northwest Texas. This series is of large extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Eastern New Mexico Reconnaissance Survey, Quay County, New Mexico, 1936.
REMARKS: This is a Benchmark Series.
Classification change (7/1999) from Ustic to Ustertic subgroup based on NSSL laboratory data (S82NM-011-001) which indicates linear extensibility exceeds 6 cm. Change in family classification from mixed to smectitic mineralogy is based on this data which shows these soils have more smectitic clays than any other single clay mineral.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 20 cm. (A horizon)
Argillic horizon: 20 to 114 cm. (Bt horizon)
Vertic feature: LE of 6.0 cm or more between soil surface and a depth of 100 cm
ADDITIONAL DATA: NSSL data from De Baca County, NM (S82NM-011-001)
TAXONOMIC VERSION: Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Tenth Edition, 2006.