Penistaja soil series
A representative soil profile of the Penistaja series; the State Soil of New Mexico. (Photos provided by Aaron Miller, Soil Scientist, USDA-NRCS)
The profile location is close to La Bajada Mesa where the El Camino Real brought many of the early Spanish settlers into Santa Fe. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas with slopes of 0 to 10 percent at elevations from 4,800 to 7,100 feet.
The Penistaja series was established in Sante Fe County, NM in 1970. The soil was named after a small farming and stock raising community in northwest New Mexico. “Penistaja” is a Navajo word that means “forced to sit”. This soil is found in the Southwest landscape of sandstone mesas, snow-capped mountains and desert grass-lands.
The Penistaja series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soil that formed in mixed alluvium, fan alluvium, slope alluvium and eolian material derived from sandstone and shale. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas. Slopes are 0 to 10 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplargids
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December to March and July to September. The soil is driest during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil Temperature: 51 to 59 degrees F.
Organic matter: averages more than 1 percent organic matter in the upper 16 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 13 to 35 inches
Reaction: Neutral to moderately alkaline
USE AND VEGETATION: Penistaja soils are used for livestock grazing. Vegetation is blue grama, western wheatgrass, Indian ricegrass, galleta, winterfat and fourwing saltbush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. MLRA 35 and 36, LRR-D. This series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/nm-state-soi....
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PENISTAJA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#penistaja
Penistaja soil series
A representative soil profile of the Penistaja series; the State Soil of New Mexico. (Photos provided by Aaron Miller, Soil Scientist, USDA-NRCS)
The profile location is close to La Bajada Mesa where the El Camino Real brought many of the early Spanish settlers into Santa Fe. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas with slopes of 0 to 10 percent at elevations from 4,800 to 7,100 feet.
The Penistaja series was established in Sante Fe County, NM in 1970. The soil was named after a small farming and stock raising community in northwest New Mexico. “Penistaja” is a Navajo word that means “forced to sit”. This soil is found in the Southwest landscape of sandstone mesas, snow-capped mountains and desert grass-lands.
The Penistaja series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soil that formed in mixed alluvium, fan alluvium, slope alluvium and eolian material derived from sandstone and shale. Penistaja soils are on mesas, plateaus, hills, cuestas and bajadas. Slopes are 0 to 10 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 12 inches and the mean annual air temperature is about 55 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Ustic Haplargids
Soil Moisture: Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December to March and July to September. The soil is driest during May and June. Ustic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil Temperature: 51 to 59 degrees F.
Organic matter: averages more than 1 percent organic matter in the upper 16 inches
Depth to base of argillic horizon: 13 to 35 inches
Reaction: Neutral to moderately alkaline
USE AND VEGETATION: Penistaja soils are used for livestock grazing. Vegetation is blue grama, western wheatgrass, Indian ricegrass, galleta, winterfat and fourwing saltbush.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. MLRA 35 and 36, LRR-D. This series is of moderate extent.
For additional information about this state soil, visit:
www.soils4teachers.org/files/s4t/k12outreach/nm-state-soi....
For a detailed soil description, visit:
soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov/OSD_Docs/P/PENISTAJA.html
For acreage and geographic distribution, visit:
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/see/#penistaja