State of Arizona Bureau of Geology and M ineral Technology

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Caliche IS a secondary accumulation of calcium carbonate I CaCO~1 1n the near-su rface 5011 horizons by 00 I lumllng prUCllSses In arid and semi arid lands Caliche s an Important constr8 nt effecting construc t on boc;JUSC It IS pcrh;Jps thc malor cause uf cXGavatron flrlfrr:ull le>; and Gall greatly Increase constructIOn costs n arco9 whcre t IS strongly dC\loloped ALa It reduces t he permeablllt1es of sods thus rendering them less su table f or septiC Illilk Ilbsorpt lon fM;! lds and dry wells Strongly developed ca liche howe\ler IS excellent for foundations and may be equa l 10

SUIl e IMldror:k I ypes III fOlmdatlon stab lhty

Caliche forms es rain water percolates downward Into thu SO il carryrnu '<I ll " jill r (I.hollale II I

solution In Situ evaporatton of thiS wat er results n the pree prttltlon of the C;JCO] In 5011 or rock VOids Thus t he permeab lilY of the Sa il or unconsolidated rock and t he amount of rarnfll il rn lIuenca tha dapth of descent of t he percolating water and thereby Inf luence the dept h of de\lelop munt uf l'8l1dte Tlte slale 01 caliche development IS time dependent and IS greater n sa ll s e)(posed at the surfaco for Iong(ll porlOds 01 t'me Chmille r.; il r: llt,r:al factor In ca lIChe dS\lslopment hot dry climates are the most favorable, w here r;JlIllaff occurs durrn'l [)erlOt!, th" ndllls iarms followed by renewed sunshine and low humidity wh ch promote OV;Jporatlon Tho and and Sllml-<JmJ climates of the southwestern U S which Includes t he Tempe Ollcdnm gle ilre ext remuly ,on duc VA to the formatIOn of ca liche

C<:Ilrchc dcp(X;lts aHl gunarilily ti ll""'1 I Ke amf form roughly parallel to the ground surface undulat ng with the topography and \I;Jry n9 later dill' III deplh ar Id 1I 1I cknflS~ Lalera l variatIOns Irl

th ickness are the result of several factors ncludlng dlffcrences In so I purm llab I ty, tupu[]'aphy and the nature of ,he med urn which IS calichll ed For these reasons IhlS map Ii neceSSllrrly gllnerali zed a Id IS based on the I mltad exposures f ound In stream cuts and records of exca\latlon and dnll t 011015 n lha areil

ThiS map baS ically descrloos lhe co l ehc condl t lOrrs wh Gh Illily Ilfl ellGountared rn the upper layers of surface matemll

TYPES OF CALICHE

C(lhchc may de\lclup rr two d Helent forms depending upon t he SIze of part clesmaklng up t he pa rent m(l toflal Onc lypo forrre; In maIer <II CUIlHIHhfKJ 01 pabb les or larger rocks and the other typa forms In f iner parent matefllli such as clay Silt or f ine sand T hlol varl8llOfl~ In da \lelopment and hardness With depth are very Similar for both types of caliche

Ca lidl9 formed rn a medium of pebblas or bou lders may exhibit a sequence of progressive devclopment wnh t mtl <IS Illuslraled 1""low (saa f ig 1) Beglnmng as a calciu m carbonate coating on tha undemide of rock!; (WBakly dflvnlopud) ".>t lochH lhen oo llds up ilnd f ,i is the spaces between pebbles as the CO;;lt lngs mur!llol and eU8lascH {moderataly dS\lelopedl and aVef1tually all Inler pebble spaces becomo f illed Th iS prof'le I,. nOw plu\J lJoo Imlnlng a concrete Irk .. Imperm aable layer (strongly developed) Bet;uuse the: w~te:r e:an percolate no deeper tI1e profi le becomes capped with layers of pure lam naiad CuCD3 I\lery strungly developudl Ttl'" In genelal t he longar the cal iche has been fo rming the ha rder and more strongly developed It Will become

Fr£UI e I Stages of caliche de~ e l op menl In pebble.5 or boulders tafter GJle 1975)

Figure 2 Sla£c, of ca l l ~ he develop me l1t 111 fme sand, sill er cia) (aCier Gl le, 197~)

In a parent material of f iner particles caliche may occur as soft discon tinuous 1 laments and fIlms of carbonate formed on or betwaen the very small Ind Vidual grains of sa nd 5 liar clay {weakly devaloped see f ig 21 Then dlscreta nodules form usuall y 2 to 8 mm IrI d ameter as ca lCium carbona t ll ,.\mounds and engulls many gra I'IS of the Ime parent 1l1.1tcrrOlI (moolllOlldy dtwe lolJ(Jdl l iltur the purent muter al oocomes ent rely engu lfed In cullche cnd very few particles or gra ins of the parent matenal can be distinguished (strongly developed) ThiS cond ition renders the rnaterl al lmpermeable and layers of pure CaC OJ Will cap the dapos t (very strongly developed)

One may encounter repeated layars 01 erther typa of cctlrche In ct s ngla drrll ho le or along the banks of a wash Tl1€se layers are oop3 raled by depo5lts af weak ly to non callchlfled sedl Wlil is TI 0 cyclic nalure 01 Iho cahchu layers Indl(:<Ilc~ thai " , t(!rrupl,on:> II I thu forrOil tlon of ca liche had occurred perm ttlng the deposit IOn of the separating sediments Very probably lhe sed ments were deposited at a rate too grellt for caliche to de\lelop

Caliche IS wldaspread In the Tampe Quadrangle and \larlas from some weakly de\laloped ca liche IrI the deposits of the Lehl Terrace near the Salt R \ler, to oolrlg very strongly de\leloped r:"Pfl'''IlI"yon; on thl! IUCJlmr lerr(lco dopos Is ,,!luv il l [il ns clilU t ho COll l'Vlol doposlls Cahclle III most allUVial fan materia l IS very thick and stronvly ueveloped Dbservuble tI1lcknesses III some washes are greater tMn 15 feet (4 5 ml wrth t h cknesses of JO feet (9 ml occurring In some drill holes Tha ca liche has formed to relatively greatth cknesses bacause It hilS been de\leloplng as the fan 6u i1ace has bean aggrading or bU llchng up However the aggradatlon has not baen so ra pid that It prccludfXl formation of calicllo beneiJth (1m gr<ldually raiSing f an su rface The rCilullts iI umformlly callchlfled body of allUVium Aggradation IS no longer occurnng on some allUVial fans or parts of the ped ment CO\le r therefore very strongly developed layers 01 caliche hallfl formed ne3r lhe $Oriaoo 01 Ihose landforms AUUradal lon IS sltl l or:currrno near the toes ul l he allllv al farn; arlu nn l hQ 1",sln flnor Tho n ~l lorHl I Ir1 thu", mclIS IS rrccurnula\II' 1l ,JI :<u(;h (l hlli/' rol c I I al ~tr Uflvly de\lelopoo cilliche does not form

Surface and subsurface field ObsefVIltlons and a study of the landform s were used to delineate ca liche boundar es on thiS map Older landforms such as bunad ped lmant inactIVe allUVial fans and co llUVial slopes generally disp lay silang II' developed ca liche Less well developed cahche horIZons form m areas of modern deposillarr31 3Ctrvlty (aggradatlOn l as deser boed abovc

The sands and gravels of the presenl Selt Alver bed are not callch f led The gravels form ng the Leh Terrace are generally not calichifled but loca ll y there mllY be a thin film of cal che developed on t he mdlV dual pabble surfaces Commonly the film s no more than 1 mm thick and flll ite prohably It fornlf!d only on tha lower " de of the pehble (SEN:! f ig 1 column A I Gravels of lhe Mr:s I l nd S IWlk Torrar:cs hdvc bllCrr II>lhlly p.cmr:nlcd With COlC03 ilnd the ca lichc IS strongly 10 very strong ly ueveloped The collUVium ellu\ lum of tha slopes and Ihe pOOlment oover are very strongly ca llchlfled end lammar calic he Is generally abu nda nt at or near t he surface

Very fme and extramely f na surfac", mate ral (uMJally ~ 11 1) 111 the 1I01lllflr il [larl 01 I " hall Bcnd Wasil have local lilyEns of very strorrgly uevelopoo caliche 3 to B fell t ( 9 to 24m) t h ck w hich occur al \larylng dC[lth,; to abollt 20 fcnt (6 m l No stich laycrs havc yl!T Ocen found In the southern end of Ihe wash Elsewhere w Ihln the Tempe Quadrangle surface mate rial of very f ne or extremely fine al lUVium which ~ ca llchlf ed generally exhibits a gradua l Increase In development of ca liche to a depth of 15 to 21 feet (4 5 to 6 3 m)

Tim; III H [I rlllolvH!; a Ulme.,..1 UVillu<rllun 011 if broad s,;al€i <lrl(i dues "ot prec luue the necessity of an on srte Invesl gatlon

SELECTED REFERENCES

Brown C N 1956 The origin of caliche on the northe(lstem Llano Est<lc(ldo Texas Jourmll uf Geology v 64 p 1 15

Chrr stan50n G E and Pewe T L 1979 Em,rronmental geology of t he McDO'o\el1 MountainS area Mari copa County Arizona Caliche Arizona Bursa u of Geology and M inerai Tr.d ,0Io{lY Gf!(l lo[llr: InveSl lqatK)n Herms Gi lD 124 OUO

Cordy G E HohNay J V Pl!wl! T L 1977 EnVIronmenta l Goology of the PtJrlJd so Va lle, Quadrangle M ancopa County Arizona Plate 10 Ca liche City of Scottsdale repo rt 1 sheet 1 2'1 000

G Ie L H 1975 Ho locene SOils and 5011 geomorphiC relat IOns III an and region of Ne'I\ Me;.e co Oua>ernary Research v 5 p 321 360

G Ie L H Peterson F F and Grossman R B 1966 M orpholog iC and gener c sequences of r:a,bollJ l c aecumulal on m dr:~elt SOils So I SC ience, v 101 p 3<17 360

HlIYo~ Patmo F Robert~on J and Pewe T L 1985 EnVironmenta l geology of t he Chandler QI <lu .a"!l le Mafl r:opa Counly Allzona Plate 7 Cal che Cit ies of Chandler and Gilbert report 1 ;hllCt t 2<1 000

Jordan M S Bruck G A and Pewe T L 1982 EnVironmental geology of the Guadalupe 0 1 ildra lliJ lr. M ""r:opa County Arllon3 Plate 7 Ca l che Clly of Tempe repo rt 1 sheet I 24000

LaHman L G 197'3 ClICU3 cementation 01 alluv al f,..fl8 '" SOl t/, erll Ne\l~da Gttolag".:il l Saclel y of Amer can Bullat n v 84 p 30133028

Pewa T L 1978 Terraces of the lower Salt River Va lley III relation to the la te CenozoIc history of the PI uell K Ba,,'" Amana //I Burt D M, and Pliwa T L Guidebook to the geology of Ccntr~1 Ar zon;J Arrzon.:l Bute'!u of Geologv a" r) Mrr end Toc llllology SpeCial Paper No 2 p 1 45

Reeves C C 1976, Ca liche origin classlf callan morpho logy and uses Estacada Books

lubbock Texas 233 p

MAP SYMBOLS

• ~ t run!lly IIldur(lted cal lche;Jt tho surf;JCC

4 0 Strong ly Induratad caliche depth of occurrence ndlcated In feet

7 0 Moderately ndursted c~lid,a, depth of occurrence ndlcated In feet

1.6. Wcakly IOdurated ca liche depth uf OIX "fI nr:c Indlr:ated II leet Pebbles or grall'ls mey have w eak ca lichtl GO(l I1110 Nodules 01 r:a ll r:ile wit If present

Halched pattern Ind cates areas w here calich lf eu co llU\ lum hed been IIJlIlovud far CUlIllllerl' al purp1l8U~

CALICHE UNITS

Non -c allc h lfled

Weak

Moderate

Strong

Geologic Investigat ion Series Map GI-2 -G

CALICHE TEMPE QUADRANGLE, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA

11 2"

James T. Bales Cathy S. Wellendorf Troy L. Pewe Department of Geology Arizona State University

1986 Prepared In cooperation with the cities of Tempe, Scottsdale, and Phoenix, and the

Arizona State Land Department

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BASE MAP FROM U H (,EOLO(, I( AL ::i lJ R\EY T()POGRAPHIC MAP 1 ;!4 OC() SI:RIES TEV1PE QUADRANG LE '1 952 PHOTOR E" I ~ED 1"'61)

Addltmnal reviSio ns compi led by the Geolog cal

Survey from aOrlal photogr;;lphs taken 1978 and

olher sources ThiS information not 1 eld checked

Map edited 191:12 C' ; ' 9 MILS

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u-'" ::;~ ID .... 1'10 19€, MACNET C '10RTII C[ CL J\AT ON "'T CENT{ ~ 0;: SII E--

EXPLANATION

LANDFORM UNITS

Modern stream chanrrel of the Salt AI .... er

Bedrock h gh lAnds and ax poseu pOOl ment

Lehl Terrace of the Sa lt RlVar

BaSin floor

Culll"" III allUVium covcr bedrock (ped l mentl

Collu\llum allUVium slopes

Vila & Vllb Ac tlve and na ctl\l8 allu\l lal fans

Vil la & V ili b Mesa and Saw k Terracas of Salt R,\le ,

Bed of ephem el81 .... ash (In dian Se nd Wash l

GEOLOGIC UNITS

Coarse to l ine allUVium

A ll bedrock Uf] Itl

E)(tremely fme

alluv urn cover my rounded • vcr WOlvcl

Fmc il ld \ cry trnll !1rarnoo " I I U~ lum

COalt;1l ro

medium nmlnod r.:ulluv lum allUVium

Coarse to medium grained co llu\lum alluvum

V ila & Vll b Coarse to mad u m grained allU Vium

V illa fJ Vil ib Ex tremely f ine gramed allUVIum cover ng round ed I vcr umvel

Ext rem ely l ine grained al

luvlum

DESCRIPTION

M3ter ai rs IOOSR 10 Gairr: ile u9vtJlopmtmt IS VIS blu

Non calich lfied except n small local unmapped accumu lations of slope debriS and colluv al cover NhlCh may have very strong ly developed layers of laminar caliche o\ler shallow bedrock Bedrock f raclures may be f illed locally Wit h calC ium carbonata (particu larl y In basa ltl

Loca lly ... eak nodulor ca li che In t he f ner gre ned mater al or thin ca l che coatmgs on the gm\ el May occur f rom 4 to 20 It (1 2 to 6 m l

Modera tel" developed caliche from 3 to more ' han 20ft {O 9 to 6 ml be low ~u I I<lc!l bulgllrrelallytl to 10 ft 11 8 to 3 m loca lly caliche may I.ary from non ndurat ed to ~tro Ifll y cfevl!lOI eo!

Sirongl" developed c(lliche at or Within 3 ft ~ 9 ml of the SUrf;;lCC laminar c(llicho Widespread Cal che may e)C tend to dept hs of 15 It {4 5 ml (See Geology map GI 2 A fOl loca l areas covered by asphalt bUildups or other works of manl

Strong ly developed ca l che at or With in 3 ft 9 ml 01 tha surface laminar ca li cha r:nmrnur C(l liche may e;.etend to depths of at least 12 ft {3 6 ml

Vila Strongly de\e loped caliche at or Within 10 It {3 fT l l of t he sui10cc laminar cal che common Caliche may axtend ta deplhs 01 at IMsl 10 It (3 ml

V l lb Strongly dal'eloped ca l che mOl a th;m 10 f l 13 111) oo low surface Ca liche may axtend to depths of at leasl 3() II (9 nol

Villa Strongly developed cal che In river g ra\lel alar w thlll 10 ft (3 ml f rom the surface lamlner Cilli r I ttl h)r: illly presenl Calic he may ex lend to depths of 10 ft 13 m l to at least 40 ft 112 ml

Vilib Sirongl, developed c(l ilche more than 10 ft 13 ml below 5ui1ace Caliche may €i)(tend to depths of 20 ft (6 m) to 45 fl 113 5 m)

Stron gly dave loped caliche layel s lrom 3 to 1::1 II I 9 to 2 4 ml thIck exte nding late rally from 10 to morfl than 100 It {3 10 30 fT l l Ca l, r;i,e may e;.etend 10 depths of at least 60 ft (1 8 m l

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SCALE 1 24000

CO NTOUR INTE RVA L 10 FE El D\T n1 IS MEAN SFA LF\ FI

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Stongly deveroped ' prugged type caliche 111 roullded graver of the '>all Raw III Mesu Terrar:e ~edlmellt~ HIgley Road SE V. SeC/ lOll 17. T.2'" , R 6£ Buckfrom Quadrangle AfI ~OI1Q (Photograph ,,",0 471 7 b) T L Pi!w~, March 12 198J)

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