Major Land Resource Area 054X
Rolling Soft Shale Plain
Accessed: 04/14/2025
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i
Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- All other sites
- Occurs on limestone capped buttes (Killdeer Mountains). The soil has forest vegetation.
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i
Key Characteristics
- Clay content is >35% in soil surface texture
- Silty clay to clay soil surface texture and no root restrictive layer
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i
Key Characteristics
- Clay content is >35% in soil surface texture
- Soil has dense, root-restrictive, claypan layer at 6-14” from the surface and a clay loam to clay soil surface texture
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i
Key Characteristics
- The site has a water table <6 feet from the soil surface and is located in depressions on uplands or floodplains and drainageways.
- Site located in depressions with a silty clay to clay textured subsoil
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i
Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- Site is located in a floodplain or swale with a fine sandy loam or loam soil surface texture
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i
Key Characteristics
- The site has a water table <6 feet from the soil surface and is located in depressions on uplands or floodplains and drainageways.
- Site is located on lowland positions with EC>8 and/or visible salts in the soil profile and/or salt tolerant vegetation present
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i
Key Characteristics
- Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
- Loamy fine sand to fine sand soil surface textures. Soil will not form a ribbon
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i
Key Characteristics
- Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
- Fine sandy loam and sandy loam soil surface textures. Soil will form a ribbon <1 inch long
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i
Key Characteristics
- Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
- Site has a sodic, dense claypan layer at >6 inches with salts >18 inches of soil surface and a fine sandy loam or silt loam soil surface texture
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i
Key Characteristics
- Bedrock and/or >15% of gravel is < 20 inches from soil surface
- Soil depth is 9-20 inches to bedrock
- Weathered bedrock, shale, or strongly cemented silcrete and subsoil has silty clay loam or clay texture
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i
Key Characteristics
- Bedrock and/or >15% of gravel is < 20 inches from soil surface
- Soil depth is 9-20 inches to bedrock
- Weathered bedrock, shale, or strongly cemented silicrete and silt loam to clay loam surface texture
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i
Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- All other sites
- All other sites.
-
i
Key Characteristics
- Clay content is >35% in soil surface texture
- Soil has a dense, root-restrictive, claypan layer <6” from the surface
-
i
Key Characteristics
- Bedrock and/or >15% of gravel is < 20 inches from soil surface
- Soil with >15% coarse sand or gravel at depths <14 inches
-
i
Key Characteristics
- The site has a water table <6 feet from the soil surface and is located in depressions on uplands or floodplains and drainageways.
- All other wet sites located in deep depressions and river valleys
-
i
Key Characteristics
- The site has a water table <6 feet from the soil surface and is located in depressions on uplands or floodplains and drainageways.
- Site has early growing season ponding, is typically located in depressions and floodplains, and is poorly drained
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i
Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- Site is located on shoulder slopes, convex rises, and summits with strong to violent effervescence immediately below the surface layer
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i
Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- Site located adjacent to a stream or river, occasional flooding
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i
Key Characteristics
- Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
- Site is located on drainageways and stream terraces, and has rare to occasional flooding
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i
Key Characteristics
- Bedrock and/or >15% of gravel is < 20 inches from soil surface
- Soil depth is 9-20 inches to bedrock
- Weathered sandstone bedrock
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i
Key Characteristics
- Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
- Site is located on hills and ridges and are generally calcareous throughout soil profile
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Key Characteristics
- All other sites
- All other sites
- Calcium carbonates occurring within 8 inches of soil surface
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Zoom in to display soil survey map units for an area of interest, and zoom out to display MLRAs. Select a map unit polygon to view ecological sites correlated to that map unit. View a brief description of an ecological site by clicking on its name in the map popup. Soil survey correlations may not be accurate, and ecological site classification of a location should always be verified in the field. Each selection may require the transfer of several hundred KB of data.
Ecological site keys
MLRA 54 Key
A
The site has a water table <6 feet from the soil surface and is located in depressions on uplands or floodplains and drainageways.
I
Site located in depressions with a silty clay to clay textured subsoil
... R054XY022ND – Closed Depression
II
Site is located on lowland positions with EC>8 and/or visible salts in the soil profile and/or salt tolerant vegetation present
... R054XY024ND – Saline Lowland
III
Site has early growing season ponding, is typically located in depressions and floodplains, and is poorly drained
... R054XY037ND – Wet Meadow
IV
All other wet sites located in deep depressions and river valleys
... R054XY036ND – Shallow Marsh
B
Bedrock and/or >15% of gravel is < 20 inches from soil surface
II
Soil depth is 9-20 inches to bedrock
a
Weathered bedrock, shale, or strongly cemented silcrete and subsoil has silty clay loam or clay texture
... R054XY028ND – Shallow Clayey
b
Weathered bedrock, shale, or strongly cemented silicrete and silt loam to clay loam surface texture
... R054XY030ND – Shallow Loamy
C
Sand content is >45% in the surface texture
I
Site is located on drainageways and stream terraces, and has rare to occasional flooding
... R054XY042ND – Sandy Terrace
II
Site has a sodic, dense claypan layer at >6 inches with salts >18 inches of soil surface and a fine sandy loam or silt loam soil surface texture
... R054XY027ND – Sandy Claypan
III
Site is located on hills and ridges and are generally calcareous throughout soil profile
... R054XY045ND – Limy Sands
IV
Fine sandy loam and sandy loam soil surface textures. Soil will form a ribbon <1 inch long
... R054XY026ND – Sandy
V
Loamy fine sand to fine sand soil surface textures. Soil will not form a ribbon
... R054XY025ND – Sands
D
Clay content is >35% in soil surface texture
II
Soil has a dense, root-restrictive, claypan layer <6” from the surface
... R054XY033ND – Thin Claypan
III
Soil has dense, root-restrictive, claypan layer at 6-14” from the surface and a clay loam to clay soil surface texture
... R054XY021ND – Claypan
E
All other sites
I
Site is located in a floodplain or swale with a fine sandy loam or loam soil surface texture
... R054XY023ND – Loamy Overflow
II
Site is located on shoulder slopes, convex rises, and summits with strong to violent effervescence immediately below the surface layer
... R054XY038ND – Thin Loamy
IV
All other sites
b
Occurs on limestone capped buttes (Killdeer Mountains). The soil has forest vegetation.
... F054XY046ND – Upland Hardwood Forest
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The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.
