Casa Grande -- Arizona State Soil

Photograph of a landscape typical of Casa Grande soils.

Photograph of the profile of a typifying pedon of the Casa Grande soil series.

Casa Grande Soil Profile

Surface layer: light brown, saline-sodic fine sandy loam
Subsoil - upper: reddish brown, saline-sodic sandy clay loam
Subsoil - lower: light reddish brown, saline-sodic clay loam

The Casa Grande series was first identified in 1936. It is named after the city of Casa Grande and the nearby Casa Grande National Monument, home of a large earthen building constructed by the Hohokam Indians nearly 1,000 years ago. The Spanish words “Casa Grande” mean “Big House.” The Indians used irrigation to remove excess salts from Casa Grande soils and raised cotton, grain, and vegetables on these productive soils, much as farmers do today.

The Casa Grande series consists of very deep, well-drained, saline-sodic soils on fan terraces and relict basin floors. These soils formed in alluvium derived from granite, rhyolite, andesite, quartzite, and some limestone and basalt. Slopes generally are 0 to 5 percent. The climate is hot and arid.

Casa Grande soils have a known distribution of about 275,000 acres and a probable distribution of several million acres throughout central and southwestern Arizona.

Small scale map of Arizona showing distribution of Casa Grande soil series.

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