Soil subgroup

Ustipsament 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 groupUstipsamentWithin the Psament suborder, it It has a subhumid to semiarid climate (ustic 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 2.859.461 ha, spread over 35 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 Pampa867.913 ha
San Luis578.899 ha
Santiago del Estero423.225 ha
Córdoba399.272 ha
Salta298.896 ha
Buenos Aires264.683 ha
Chaco15.401 ha
Jujuy11.173 ha

Districts where it is most common

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

How productive it is

Where it is the main soil of the map unit, the productivity index has a median of 14 (very low); half of the units fall between 13 and 24.

Land capability

VI

class IV: 5% · class VI: 95%

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.

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

Estancia San Bernardo · Medanos

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