Soil subgroup

Torripsament 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.
SuborderPsamentEntisol sandy throughout the profile: dunes, sand sheets.
Great groupTorripsamentWithin the Psament 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.

Most common surface texture
Sandy
Most common drainage
Excessive
Typical effective depth
100 cm

Where it is found

According to the 1:500.000 national map, it covers about 13.764.805 ha, spread over 83 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
Mendoza5.219.740 ha
La Pampa3.242.524 ha
San Luis1.497.340 ha
Río Negro1.239.602 ha
La Rioja966.189 ha
San Juan568.112 ha
Neuquén420.697 ha
Santiago del Estero188.352 ha
Buenos Aires165.340 ha
Catamarca105.300 ha

Districts where it is most common

It also appears on the detailed maps of: Santiago del Estero.

How productive it is

Where it is the main soil of the map unit, the productivity index has a median of 16 (very low); half of the units fall between 12 and 19.

Land capability

VI
VII

class VI: 89% · class VII: 11%

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 Torripsament 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