page23
23
2.1 Physical Characteristics
Discussion – Soil Texture Class
Why is it useful to know what soil texture class you have?
In New Mexico and Colorado we have all soil texture classes, from sandy desert grasslands to
silty soils along river floodplains to clayey soils on the Great Plains that have developed in deep-
rooted grasslands from shale and siltstone bedrock. Of the three types of mineral soil particles,
clay particles take the most weathering to develop, and so in general, due to the limited amount of
weathering that occurs in semi-arid climates, clays are the least dominant particle in soils found in
this region.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________