Soil subgroup

Natracualf glósico

It has tongues of clear, washed material that penetrate the clay horizon.

What the name says

Soil Taxonomy names are built from parts, and each part says something about the soil. From general to specific:

Taxonomic orderAlfisolSoil with a clay accumulation horizon (argillic or natric) and good base saturation, but without the thick, dark surface of a Molisol.
SuborderAcualfAlfisol with excess water: saturated near the surface part of the year, with redox depletions.
Great groupNatracualfWithin the Acualf suborder, it has a natric horizon: accumulation of clay with a lot of exchangeable sodium, which disperses the clay and blocks the passage of water and roots.
SubgroupglósicoIt has tongues of clear, washed material that penetrate the clay horizon.

What it means for farming

Acceptable fertility, but the surface layer is thinner and poor in organic matter. In the Pampas region many Alfisoles are sodic or floodable (Natracualfes) and are left for livestock.

The sodic soil of the low-lying areas of the Pampa Deprimida and the plains of Salado: it floods in winter, hardens in summer, and sodium limits almost everything that is not natural grass.

Most common surface texture
Clay loam
Most common drainage
Moderate
Typical effective depth
80 cm

Where it is found

According to the 1:500.000 national map, it covers about 203.740 ha, spread over 6 districts.

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National map units that list it. The scale is 1:500.000: good for seeing the region, not a single property.

ProvinceArea
Chaco175.438 ha
Corrientes28.303 ha

Districts where it is most common

It also appears on the detailed maps of: Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos.

How productive it is

Where it is the main soil of the map unit, the productivity index has a median of 9 (very low); half of the units fall between 7 and 10.

Taken from the maps that include this data. A map unit with several soils has a single index, and it is only attributed to the dominant soil.

Other Natracualf subgroups

Soil series

Series are the specific soils, named after places, that detailed maps describe under this name. Two properties with the same series have the same soil.

Buenos Aires

Juncalito · Chelforo

Entre Ríos

Conscripto Bernardi

Soils it shares map units with

Several soils share each map unit. These are the ones most often found alongside this one: on a property, you will likely find them in the nearby low ground or on the next rise.

The definitions are a plain-language summary of the USDA Keys to Soil Taxonomy. The formal definition includes thickness, color and percentage thresholds that are left out here.

Sources