Soil subgroup

Torriortent típico

It is the central concept of the great group: it has its features and none that brings it closer to another group.

What the name says

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

Taxonomic orderEntisolSoil without diagnostic horizons, or almost: recently deposited material (sand, alluvium) or on which the climate did not have time to act.
SuborderOrtentEntisol on material that is neither sandy nor alluvial: eroded slopes, rock, recent sediments.
Great groupTorriortentWithin the Ortent suborder, it It has an arid climate (torric moisture regime).
SubgrouptípicoIt is the central concept of the great group: it has its features and none that brings it closer to another group.

What it means for farming

Very variable. The sandy ones (Psamentes) retain little water and blow away; alluvial ones (Fluventes) can be good but they flood; the shallow ones on rock (lithic) are barely useful for grazing.

The most widespread soil of extra-Andean Patagonia and the arid west: stony or sandy, without development, under steppe.

Most common surface texture
Loamy sand
Most common drainage
Well drained
Typical effective depth
100 cm

Where it is found

According to the 1:500.000 national map, it covers about 15.513.988 ha, spread over 107 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
La Rioja3.441.404 ha
San Juan2.398.349 ha
San Luis1.480.107 ha
Chubut1.429.078 ha
Neuquén1.414.399 ha
Mendoza1.386.223 ha
Catamarca962.895 ha
Santa Cruz927.881 ha
Río Negro891.112 ha
La Pampa667.570 ha

Districts where it is most common

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 5 and 25.

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 Torriortent subgroups

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