LOCATION VILLARIO NMTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic, shallow Ustic Haplargids
TYPICAL PEDON: Villario very bouldery silt loam--on a backslope of a plateau sloping 35 percent to the west-northwest at 6,885 feet elevation--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted. When described on September 5th, 2002, the soil was dry throughout.)
Oi--0 to 1 inch, slightly decomposed needles, leaves, and twigs; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 or 2 inches thick)
A--1 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 4/3) very stony silt loam, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; weak thick platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few coarse, common medium, common fine, and common very fine roots; many fine and many very fine interstitial pores; 15 percent gravel, 10 percent cobbles, 10 percent stones, and 10 percent boulders; violently effervescent (5 percent calcium carbonate equivalent); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)
Bt--3 to 8 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) silty clay loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, very friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; very few coarse, few medium, few fine, and few very fine roots; common medium, many fine, and many very fine tubular pores; common distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 1 percent gravel; violently effervescent (4 percent calcium carbonate equivalent); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); diffuse wavy boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
2BC--8 to 14 inches; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) silt loam, light olive brown (2.5Y 5/3) moist; moderate medium angular blocky structure; hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine and few very fine roots; many fine and many very fine tubular pores; many fine primary gypsum crystals; violently effervescent (3 percent calcium carbonate equivalent); moderately alkaline (pH 8.4); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
2Cr--14 to 24 inches; moderately cemented shale bedrock with some interbedded moderately cemented sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; 973 feet west and 969 feet north of the southeast corner of section 33, T.11N., R.11E.; USGS White Lakes 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; Latitude 35 degrees 08 minutes 12.6 seconds North and Longitude 105 degrees 46 minutes 14.5 seconds West, NAD 27.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - The soil moisture control section is intermittently moist in some part from July to October and December to March. It is assumed to be dry in all parts 50 to 75 percent of the time (cumulative), when the soil temperature at 20 inches is 41 degrees F. or higher. The soils are driest in May and June. The soil moisture regime is aridic bordering on ustic.
Mean annual soil temperature - 51 to 53 degrees F.
Depth to base of argillic horizon - 6 to 10 inches
Depth to paralithic contact - 10 to 20 inches
Particle-size control section weighted averages -
Silicate clay content: 20 to 30 percent
Sand content: 15 to 25 percent
Fine sand or coarser content: 15 to 25 percent
Rock fragment content: 0 to 5 percent gravel
Salinity, dS/m - 0 to 2
Sodicity, SAR - 0 to 4
A horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 4 or 5 dry, 3 or 4 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist
Rock fragment content: total range is 35 to 60 percent
10 to 20 percent gravel
5 to 15 percent cobbles
5 to 15 percent stones
2 to 10 percent boulders
Bt horizon
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 to 4, dry or moist
Texture: silty clay loam or silt loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 5 percent
2BC horizon
Hue: 10YR or 2.5YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3, dry or moist
Texture: silt loam or silty clay loam
Calcium carbonate equivalent: 1 to 4 percent
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Southfork and Worf series.
Southfork soils have hues of 5YR or redder.
Worf soils have secondary calcium carbonates.
Southfork and Worf soils are more moist in
May and June.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Villario soils are on backslopes of scarp slopes of mesas and plateaus. They formed in colluvium derived from sandstone and shale over residuum weathered from shale of the Triassic Age Chinle Formation. Slopes are 30 to 45 percent. Elevation ranges from 6,000 to 7,100 feet. The mean annual precipitation is 12 to 14 inches with about 45 percent falling as rain from high-intensity convective thunderstorms between July and September. The mean annual air temperature is 49 to 51 degrees F. The frost-free period is 130 to 150 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Arojomil, Horchata, Kech, and Kinsell soils. Arojomil soils are moderately deep to a petrocalcic horizon and are on summits and shoulders of undulating plateaus. Horchata soils are moderately deep to sandstone, have a calcic horizon, and occur on summits. Kech soils are shallow to hard sandstone bedrock, have a calcic horizon, and occur on shoulders and beveled summits. Kinsell soils are fine-silty, have a mollic epipedon, and occur on floodplains and channels of valley floors.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; high surface runoff; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Villario soils are used for livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Present vegetation is blue grama, galleta, black grama, broom snakeweed, and oneseed juniper.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Villario soils are of small extent in the northeastern part of the Estancia Basin in the Mexican Highland section of the Basin and Range physiographic province in northcentral New Mexico, MLRA 70C.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona.
SERIES PROPOSED: Santa Fe County, New Mexico; Santa Fe Area Soil Survey Update; 2002. The name Villario is from the Spanish words for village and river and it is also a local surname.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - 1 to about 3 inches. (A horizon)
Argillic horizon - 3 to about 8 inches. (Bt horizon)
Lithologic discontinuity - 8 inches (The significant change in parent material in the 2BC horizon)
Lithic contact - 14 inches (2Cr layer)
Classified according to Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Calcium carbonate equivalence was determined using a field calcimeter.