LOCATION MOGOTE             CO

MOGOTE SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, frigid Aquic Ustorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Mogote loam, cultivated. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)

Ap--0 to 8 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)

ACcs--8 to 16 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) heavy loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; 5 percent gypsum crystals; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)

C1ca--16 to 25 inches; light brown (7.5YR 6/4) loam, dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable; visible secondary calcium carbonate and other salts occurring as nodules, and in finely divided forms; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)

C2--25 to 37 inches; pinkish gray (7.5YR 6/2) loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) moist; common medium distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/5) moist mottles; massive; slightly effervescent in some spots; mildly alkaline; diffuse boundary. (10 to 15 inches thick)

C3g--37 to 45 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/8) light loam, yellowish red (5YR 4/8) moist; many medium prominent mottles of grayish brown (10YR 5/2) moist, very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist; and dark brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; massive; neutral. (15 to 20 inches thick)

IIC4--45 to 60 inches; clean sand and gravel, loose.

TYPE LOCATION: Conejos County, Colorado; 1,500 feet east and 100 feet south of the northwest corner of Sec. 20, T. 35 N., R. 9 E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to sand, or sand and gravel ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Salinity is slight in the surface layer; gypsum content ranges from 5 to about 10 percent in the Ccs horizon and decreases with increasing depth; calcium carbonate also decreases with increasing depth. Rock fragments range from 0 to 15 percent in the control section and are predominantly of gravel size. The control section is usually loam but has 18 to 35 percent clay. Depth to water table fluctuates from depth of about 2 feet to deeper than 5 feet, and the soil is mottled due to wetness below a depth of about 20 inches.

The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 5 through 7 dry, 4 through 6 moist, and chroma of 2 through 4.

The C horizon has hue of 5YR through 2.5Y. The wide range in color is related to the fluctuating water table.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Schodson series. Schodson soils are coarse-loamy and have mesic temperature.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Mogote soils are on low alluvial flood plains and have slopes of 0 to 2 percent, but generally less than 1 percent. The soils formed in mixed alluvium with some influence from basaltic outwash. Average annual precipitation at the type location ranges from 6 to 8 inches. The mean annual temperature is 42 degrees F. and the mean summer temperature is 56 degrees F. The frost-free season is about 95 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are LaJara, Lamanga, and Platoro soils. LaJara soils have a coarse-loamy control section and a mollic epipedon. Lamanga and Platoro soils have argillic horizons.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; slow runoff; moderately slow permeability.

USE AND VEGETATION: Where drainage is established and salts are leached out of the root zone, alfalfa and small grains are grown quite successfully. Some areas are in native vegetation, consisting of saltgrass, alkali sacaton, tall rabbitbrush, and greasewood.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado. The series is of small extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Lakewood, Colorado

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Conejos County, Colorado, 1975.

REMARKS: Last updated by the state 7/75.

The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Lakewood MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.