Soil great group

Natrudol

Of the Udol 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.

What the name says

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

Taxonomic orderMolisolSoil with a thick, dark surface horizon rich in organic matter (the mollic epipedon), with more than half of its exchange capacity occupied by calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. It forms under grassland.
SuborderUdolMolisol humid climate (udic moisture regime): the profile almost never spends more than three months dry.
Great groupNatrudolWithin the Udol 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.

What it means for farming

They are the soils agricultural lands par excellence: the Pampas grassland formed them and most of Argentine agriculture is done on them. They retain water and nutrients; its limitation, when there is one, is below: clay, sodium, calcareous hardpan or drainage.

Where it is found

It does not appear on the national map; on the detailed maps it adds up to about 1.608.043 ha, across 31 districts.

ProvinceArea
Buenos Aires1.608.043 ha

Districts where it is most common

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

How productive it is

Land capability

III
IV
VI
VII

class III: 13% · class IV: 52% · class VI: 26% · class VII: 9%

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.

Subgroups on the maps

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

Ayacucho · La Escocia · La Tigra · Las Hermanas · Monte · Cruzada · Estacion Yerbas · Sierra Chica · Estacion La Nevada · Santa Paula · General La Madrid · Gonzalez Chaves

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