Soil Data Explorer - MESA

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the MESA soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of MESA, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to MESA were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-13). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

Pedons used in the lab summary:

MLRA	Lab ID	Pedon ID	Taxonname	CI	NSSL / NASIS Reports	Link To SoilWeb GMap
34B	81P0622	81CO085001	Mesa	7	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	38.4952774,-107.9938889
34B	99P0208	99CO085001	MESA	7	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	38.5155563,-107.9444427
34B	99P0211	99CO085004	MESA	7	Primary | Supplementary | Taxonomy | Pedon | Water Retention | Correlation | Andic Soil Properties	38.6552773,-108.1102753

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the MESA soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the MESA series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the MESA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the MESA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

Competing Series

Soil series competing with MESA share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the MESA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the MESA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with MESA, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

No block diagrams are available.

Map Units

Map units containing MESA as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Mesa family, 1 to 4 percent slopes	60	9639	58022	2qsyj	az715	2007	1:24000
Mesa clay loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes	760	28768	508783	k2fc	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa gravelly loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes	725	9141	512818	k6mj	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa gravelly loam, 2 to 5 percent slopes	764	8186	656115	q0r0	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa gravelly clay loam, 5 to 12 percent slopes	765	1094	779397	v50v	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa-Grunnell, stony complex, 2 to 8 percent slopes	787	836	806458	w25s	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa-Waterdog complex, 0 to 5 percent slopes	807	164	692453	r7k6	co677	2018	1:24000
Mesa-Utaline stony loams, 3 to 12 percent slopes	55	5255	496634	jnsg	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa loam, 3 to 6 percent slopes	54	4981	496633	jnsf	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes	53	2704	496632	jnsd	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa clay loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes	760	924	2990925	k2fc	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa gravelly loam, 2 to 5 percent slopes	764	197	2990956	q0r0	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa gravelly clay loam, 5 to 12 percent slopes	765	35	2990926	v50v	co679	1976	1:24000
Mesa-Avalon complex, 3 to 12 percent slopes	51	6443	496714	jnw1	co682	1986	1:24000
Mack-Mesa fine sandy loams, 1 to 4 percent slopes	210	8412	57373	1xpr	nm717	1993	1:24000
Mesa fine sandy loam, 1 to 4 percent slopes	155	5067	57356	1xp6	nm717	1993	1:24000
Mesa sandy clay loam, wet, 0 to 1 percent slopes	295	1674	57390	1xq9	nm717	1993	1:24000
Mesa clay loam, wet, 0 to 1 percent slopes	290	990	57389	1xq8	nm717	1993	1:24000
Mesa-Tusher complex, 2 to 6 percent slopes	093	1887	1531208	1ndbt	ut623	2011	1:24000
Mesa-Chipeta-Thedalund family complex	31	29052	504525	jy00	ut624	1985	1:24000
Mesa-Trook complex	32	16148	504526	jy01	ut624	1985	1:24000
Mesa fine sandy loam, 2 to 6 percent slopes	30	10234	504524	jxzz	ut624	1985	1:24000
Mesa-Leebench-Nakoy families association, 0 to 10 percent slopes	4106	15326	3193845	2z92g	ut625		1:24000
Mesa-Aysees-like-Sierravista-like complex, 1 to 3 percent slopes	2117		2969051	2wxl6	wy629		1:24000
Mesa-Aysees-like-Sierravista-like complex, 3 to 6 percent slopes	2216		2969056	2wxlc	wy629		1:24000
Mesa-Sierravista-like, extremely bouldery complex, 1 to 3 percent slopes	2122		2969055	2wxlb	wy629		1:24000
Griffy-Mesa complex, 1 to 3 percent slopes	2121		2969054	2wxl9	wy629		1:24000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the MESA soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).