LOCATION COWOOD MT+COEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Lithic Haplocryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Cowood very channery loam, forested (colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
Oi--0 to 1 inch; root mat and forest litter of needles and twigs; abrupt smooth boundary. (1/2 to 3 inches thick)
E--1 to 5 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) very channery loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate very thin platy structure; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine and few medium roots; many very fine tubular and interstitial pores; many silt and sand skeletans on faces of peds; 40 percent channers; strongly acid (pH 5.1); clear smooth boundary. (3 to 5 inches thick)
Bw--5 to 16 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) extremely channery loam, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; weak medium and fine subangular blocky structure parting to moderate very fine and fine granular; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine roots; many very fine tubular and interstitial pores; 65 percent channers; strongly acid (pH 5.1); abrupt wavy boundary. (7 to 15 inches thick)
R--16 inches; hard argillite bedrock with a few vertical cracks; few fine roots in some cracks.
TYPE LOCATION: Lewis and Clark County, Montana; 2,650 feet north and 1,700 feet east of the SW corner of sec. 29, T. 14 N., R. 5 W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil temperature - 35 to 42 degrees F.
Moisture control section - between 4 and 12 inches.
Coarse fragments - mainly argillite.
Depth to bedrock - 10 to 20 inches.
Some pedons have an A horizon in place of the E horizon.
Surfaces stones or boulders - 0 to 3 percent.
E horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry; 2, 3, 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3
Texture: loam, coarse sandy loam or sandy loam
Clay content: 10 to 27 percent
Rock fragments: 25 to 70 percent--10 to 50 percent cobbles or stones; 15 to 50 percent pebbles or channers
Reaction: pH 5.1 to 7.3
Bw horizon - Value: 5 or 6 dry; 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3, 4, 6
Texture: loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam
Clay content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragments: 60 to 80 percent channers, pebbles, cobbles and stones
Reaction: pH 5.1 to 7.3
COMPETING SERIES:
Banker (WA) - has a xeric moisture regime.
Caseypeak (MT) - has a paralithic contact above the lithic contact; has an ustic moisture regime.
Cobblank (AK) - has a subarctic-continental climate.
Hechtman (WY) - has mean annual air temperature of 30 to 34 degrees F. and mean annual soil temperature of 32 to 36 degrees F.; has mean annual precipitation of about 50 inches; formed in material from rhyolite.
Hotter (CO) - does not have an O horizon; formed in residuum and slope alluvium from sandstone and shale.
Illiano (MT) - has vitrandic properties.
Jarbidge (NV) - has a xeric moisture regime.
Merino (UT) - does not have a cambic horizon; has an ustic moisture regime.
Pendergrass (CO) - has hue of 5YR or redder throughout; has an ustic moisture regime.
Sigbird (MT) - has an ustic moisture regime.
Treebutte (WA) - has a xeric moisture regime.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform- mountains, escarpments, ridges and hills.
Elevation - 5,000 to 9,200 feet and as high as 11,000 feet in Colorado.
Slope - 0 to 75 percent.
Climate - long, cold winters; moist springs; and short summers.
Mean annual air temperature - 32 to 40 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation - 20 to 40 inches.
Frost-free period - 30 to 70 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: None listed.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Cowood soils are used mainly for watershed, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Potential native vegetation is mainly whitebark pine, subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, elk sedge, grouse whortleberry, juniper, and other forbs and shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cowood soils are of moderate extent central and Southwestern Montana.
MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Judith Basin Area, Montana, 1959.
REMARKS: Soil Interpretations Record: MT0372. Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: an ochric epipedon from 1 to 7 inches (mixed)(E, Bw horizons); a cambic horizon from 5 to 16 inches (Bw horizon); a lithic contact at a depth of 16 inches. Cowood soils have a cryic temperature regime and a udic moisture regime.
The 3/2008 description reflects a change in classification from Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Lithic Eutrocryepts to Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Lithic Haplocryepts due to revision of the cryepts great groups and subgroups. The competing series section was not updated and should be reviewed after all the cryepts have been re-classified.