LOCATION COWOOD                  MT+CO

Established Series
Rev. DES-KTS-EMM
07/2012

COWOOD SERIES

The Cowood series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in colluvium or slide deposits over residuum derived from mixed rock sources. These soils are on mountains, escarpments, ridges, hills and landslides. Slopes are 0 to 75 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 30 inches, and the mean annual air temperature is about 36 degrees F.

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, 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 fine and medium 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:
Mean annual soil temperature - 36 to 42 degrees F.
Coarse fragments - mainly argillite
Depth to a lithic contact - 10 to 20 inches

Note: Some pedons may have an A horizon in place of the E horizon.

E horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry; 2 to 5 moist
Chroma: 2 or 3; dry or moist
Texture: loam, coarse sandy loam or sandy loam
Clay content: 10 to 27 percent
Rock fragments: 25 to 70 percent--15 to 50 percent gravel or channers, 5 to 50 percent cobbles or stones
Reaction: pH 5.1 to 7.3

Bw horizon
Value: 5 or 6 dry; 4 or 5 moist
Chroma: 3 to 6; dry or moist
Texture: loam, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam
Clay content: 5 to 25 percent
Rock fragments: 45 to 80 percent channers, gravel, cobbles and stones
Reaction: pH 5.1 to 7.3

COMPETING SERIES:
Caseypeak (MT) - have an ustic moisture regime
Cobblank (AK) - has a subarctic-continental climate
Hechtman (WY) - have a mean annual soil temperature of 32 to 36 degrees
Hotter (CO) - does not have an O horizon
Jarbidge (NV) - have a xeric moisture regime
Merino (UT) - does not have an E horizon
Pendergrass (CO) - does not have a cambic horizon
Sigbird (MT) - have an ustic moisture regime

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landform - mountains, escarpments, ridges, hills and landslides
Elevation - 5,000 to 9,200 feet and as high as 11,000 feet in Colorado
Slope - 0 to 75 percent
Parent material - colluvium or slide deposits over residuum derived from mixed rock sources
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. MLRAs - 43B, 48A.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Judith Basin Area, Montana, 1959.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - from 0 to 7 inches mixed (Oi, E and part of Bw horizons)
Cambic horizon - from 5 to 16 inches (Bw horizon)
Lithic contact - at a depth of 16 inches
Particle-size control section - from 10 to 16 inches (part of Bw horizon)

Cowood soils have a cryic temperature regime and an udic moisture regime.

ADDITIONAL DATA: Soil Interpretations Record - MT0372.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.