LOCATION UBAR NMEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Ubar silt loam - native rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A--0 to 3 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; weak medium platy structure in upper 1 to 2 inches and weak medium granular structure in the lower part; slightly hard, very friable, sticky; many fine vesicular pores, many fine and very fine roots; effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
Bw1--3 to 10 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silty clay loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; weak coarse subangular blocky structure; hard, very friable, sticky; many fine and very fine roots and tubular pores; effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bw2--10 to 18 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silty clay, dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, very sticky; many fine and very fine roots and tubular pores; effervescent, lime disseminated, moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
Bk--18 to 46 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) silty clay; dark yellowish brown (10YR 3/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; very hard, friable, very sticky; few fine and very fine roots in upper part, many fine and very fine tubular pores; effervescent, lime disseminated; moderately alkaline; clear irregular boundary. (8 to 30 inches thick)
BCk--46 to 52 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) clay; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; massive; very hard, friable, very sticky; few roots; many fine and very fine tubular pores; effervescent, lime disseminated and segregated in few fine soft masses; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Hidalgo County, New Mexico; 27 yards northeast of S1/4 corner sec. 27, T.31S., R.16W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil Moisture: The moisture control section is usually dry in all parts more than three-fourths of the time that the soil temperature exceeds 41 degrees F. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 59 to 71.6 degrees F.
Carbonates are absent in the upper 10 to 15 inches of some pedons
Particle-size control section (weighted average):
Clay content: 40 to 60 percent
Rock fragments: less than 15 percent (gravel size)
A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Structure grade: weak or moderate
Structure size: fine, thin, or medium
Structure type: platy or granular
Bw horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: clay, silty clay, clay loam or silty clay loam
Bk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: clay, silty clay, clay loam or silty clay loam
BCk horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 to 6 dry, 3 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: clay, silty clay, clay loam or silty clay loam
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Kecksroad (CA) and Marconi (NM) series. The Kecksroad soils have a paralithic contact within 40 inches of the surface. Marconi soils. Marconi soils have dominate 2.5YR and 5YR hues and contain 1 to 15 percent gypsum.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Alluvium from mixed sources
Landform: Basin floor
Slope: 0 to 3 percent
Mean annual temperature: 58 to 70.6 degrees
Mean annual precipitation: 8 to 10 inches
Frost-free period: 200 to 240 days
Elevation: 3,900 to 4,200 feet
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Copia,
Foxtrot,
Globe,
Hueco,
Mcnew, and
Nations soils.
Copia soils are sandy and do not have cambic horizons and are on sand sheets on basin floor.
Foxtrot, Hueco, and Nations soils are moderately deep to a petrocalcic horizon and are on basin floors.
The Globe soils have Vertic properties and smectitic clays and are on pluvial lake sediments.
Mcnew soils have calcic horizons within 20 inches of the surface and are on slightly higher positions of the alluvial flat of the basin floor.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; rapid runoff; slow or very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing. Burrograss, tobosa, all thorn, tarbrush, mesquite, and creosotebush are the principal range plant species.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Ubar series is of moderate extent in Southwestern New Mexico. MLRA 42.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, 1970.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Particle-size control section: The zone from 10 to 40 inches. (Bw2 and Bk horizons)
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 7 inches. (A and Bw1 horizons mixed to 7 inches).
Cambic horizon: The zone from 3 to 18 inches. (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
The Ubar series is the less silty and more clayey part of what had been included within the Mimbres series (fine-silty family).