LOCATION VADO NM+AZ TX
Established Series
Rev. LHG/BDS/PDC/WWJ
12/2022
VADO SERIES
The Vado series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in sediments derived from rhyolite, andesite, latite, and dacite. Vado soils are on nearly level to moderate slopes. The mean annual precipitation is about 11 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 62 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Haplocambids
TYPICAL PEDON: Vado very gravelly sandy loam - rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface has a desert pavement of rhyolite gravel and cobble
A--0 to 3 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; weak fine granular structure with weak platy structure in the upper inch; soft, very friable, nonsticky; few fine roots; noneffervescent; slightly alkaline; clear smooth boundary. (2 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--3 to 16 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak, fine subangular blocky and crumb structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky; common fine roots; common thin discontinuous reddish stains on gravel decreasing in lower part; noneffervescent; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 24 inches thick)
Bk--16 to 20 inches; reddish brown (5YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam, reddish brown (5YR 4/4) moist; weak fine subangular blocky and crumb structure; soft, very friable, nonsticky; few fine roots; few fine pores; effervescent in lower part, few thin discontinuous calcium carbonate coatings on undersides of some gravel; slightly alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)
Ck1--20 to 36 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/3) very gravelly sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 4/3) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky; few very fine roots; effervescent with calcium carbonate segregated as thin coatings on gravel; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (10 to 25 inches thick)
Ck2--36 to 50 inches; brown (7.5YR 5/4) very gravelly sandy loam, stratified with few thin lenses of loamy sand; brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; soft, very friable, nonsticky; effervescent with calcium carbonate occurring as coatings on gravel; there is less calcium carbonate than in the horizon above and amount gradually decreases with depth; moderately alkaline.
TYPE LOCATION: Dona Ana County, New Mexico; north bank of arroyo;
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 through April and for more than 20 days cumulative during July through September. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature: 60 to 68 degrees F.
Calcium carbonate: The A and upper B horizons are typically noneffervescent but range to slightly. Calcium carbonate equivalent is less than 15 and usually does not exceed 5 percent within depths of 40 inches
A horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR
Value: 4 through 7 dry, 3 through 6 moist
Chroma: 2 through 5, dry or moist
Structure: weak to moderate very fine to fine granular with some platiness in the upper 2 inches
Bw horizon
Hue: 5YR through 10YR
Value: 4 through 6 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 3 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: very gravelly loam to very gravelly sandy loam (5 to 18 percent clay)
Rock fragments: more than 35 percent gravel
Structure: weak very fine to fine granular and from weak to moderate very fine to medium subangular blocky
C horizon
Same color range as the B horizon but it is usually of yellower hue or lower chroma
Texture: very gravelly sandy loam and in some pedons contains thin strata of sand
Calcium carbonate: effervescent; ranges from disseminated to segregated as thin coatings and as few fine masses or concretions
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Bikelake (CA),
Parashant (AZ),
Klipstein (CA) and
Detrital (AZ) series. These soils are in the
Mohave Desert (MLRA 30) receive mostly winter precipitation and are usually dry from April through November. Klipstein soils are dry throughout from mid April to mid December, have mean annual precipitation is 6 to 8 inches and are in the Southern
San Joaquin
Valley of California (MLRA 17).
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Vado soils are on nearly level to moderately sloping alluvial fans, alluvial piedmonts, and terraces of Holocene age. The soils formed in very gravelly sediments derived from one or more of such rocks as rhyolite, andesite, latite, and dacite. The mean annual precipitation ranges from about 8 to 14 inches with a marked summer maximum. The mean annual air temperature ranges from about 58 to 66 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Casito,
Delnorte,
Monterosa,
Nolam, and
Terino soils. Casito, Delnorte, Monterosa, and Terino soils have petrocalcic horizons within depths of 20 inches. Nolam soils have calcic horizons within depths of 40 inches.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow runoff; moderately rapid
to rapid permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat.
Vegetation is principally snakeweed with lesser amounts of Mormon tea,
mesquite, fluffgrass, bush muhly, and yucca.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern New Mexico. It is inextensive. MLRAs 40 & 42.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Phoenix, Arizona
SERIES ESTABLISHED: The Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project, Dona Ana County, New Mexico; 1971.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from 0 to 3 inches (A horizon)
Cambic horizon - The zone from 3 to 16 inches (Bw horizon)
Classified according to Soil Taxonomy Second Edition, 1999; Keys to Soil Taxonomy Tenth Edition, 2006.
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.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.