LOCATION POPE KY+AL IN MD NJ NY OH PA TN VA WV
Established Series
Rev. JHN-SJH-DBD-DHK-JDM
04/2025
POPE SERIES
The Pope series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in alluvium on flood plains. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high. Slopes range from 0 to 4 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1220 millimeters and mean annual air temperature is about 11.6 degrees C. near the type location.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Fluventic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Pope fine sandy loam, in a cultivated field on a nearly level flood plain. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Ap--0 to 20 centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) fine sandy loam; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 30 centimeters thick)
Bw1--20 to 66 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; few faint brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; common fine roots; few fine pores; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Bw2--66 to 107 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; weak fine and medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few very fine roots; few fine pores; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon is 40 to 127 centimeters)
C--107 to 216 centimeters; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; single grain; loose; few thin layers of sandy loam and loamy sand; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Rowan County, Kentucky on Craney Creek; 0.4 mile east of the hamlet of Craney and 50 feet north of Craney Creek about 1/4 mile northeast of its confluence with the North Fork of the Licking River; 38 degrees, 04 minutes, 05 seconds N. latitude and 82 degrees, 20 minutes and 55 seconds W. Longitude; NAD 1983.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the solum ranges from 76 to 150 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is more than 150 centimeters. Rock fragments, mostly sandstone gravels and channers, range from 0 to 30 percent in the solum and 0 to 75 percent in the substratum. Reaction ranges from strongly acid through extremely acid, unless limed.
The Ap or A horizons have hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 6 and chroma of 3 to 6. If value is 3, dry color is 6 or more. Fine-earth texture is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The Bw horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less below 40 inches. Fine-earth texture is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam or silt loam.
The C or 2C horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 3 to 6. Some pedons have iron depletions with chroma of 2 or less. Fine-earth texture is loamy sand, loamy fine sand, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam, or stratified layers of these textures. Some pedons have stratified sand layers below 40 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: The
Comus and
Linden series are members of the same family. Comus soils formed in alluvium high in mica. Linden soils allow 5YR or redder hue in the Bw horizon. Linden soils have redder colors in the solum. Series in closely related families are McNulty,
Occum and
Wenonah. These soils are all in a superactive CEC activity class. Additionally, McNulty soils occur in areas where mean annual precipitation ranges from 60 to 90 inches. Occum soils formed in alluvium derived mostly from gneiss, granite and schist. Wenonah soils formed in post glacial alluvium from glacial drift and contain more feldspars and weatherable minerals.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pope soils are on flood plains with slopes mainly less than 4 percent. They formed in alluvium weathered from acid sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Average annual air temperature ranges from 8.5 to 14 degrees C and the average annual precipitation from 1065 to 1370 millimeters.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Allegheny,
Atkins,
Clymer,
Cotaco,
Cuba,
Gilpin,
Jefferson,
Matewan,
Monongahela,
Morehead,
Muskingum,
Philo,
Rowdy,
Shelocta and
Stendal series. Allegheny, Atkins, Cotaco, Gilpin, Jefferson, Monongahela, Muskingum, Rowdy and Shelocta soils are fine-loamy. Cuba, Morehead and Stendal soils are fine-silty. Allegheny, Clymer, Cotaco, Gilpin, Jefferson, Monongahela and Shelocta soils have argillic horizons. Atkins soils are poorly drained. Cotaco and Morehead soils are moderately well or somewhat poorly drained. Monongahela and Philo soils are moderately well drained. Stendal soils are somewhat poorly drained. Gilpin, Matewan and Muskingum soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Monongahela soils have fragipans.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; runoff class is negligible to low and saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high. Flooding frequency is normally rare or occasional, but some areas flood frequently. Seasonal high water table is greater than 150 centimeters.
USE AND VEGETATION: Largely cultivated to corn, sorghum, small grains, tobacco, hay, pasture and vegetables. Native vegetation is mixed, deciduous hardwood forests of mainly tulip poplar, white oak, river birch, sycamore, beech and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Pope soils are found mainly in MLRAs 124, 125, 126, 128, 130B, and 147 consisting of mountain and plateau areas of Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Pope soils are also mapped less extensively in Alabama, Indiana, New Jersey and New York in MLRA's 114, 140 and 148. The extent is large.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pope County, Arkansas; 1913.
REMARKS: Pope soils were classified in the Alluvial great soil group in the 1938 classification system. The CEC activity class placement is based on similar geographically associated soils such as Philo and Stendal. Competing series were also updated.
10/05 revision added location data and a review of over 40 pedons in KY that revealed only 2 instances of 7.5YR color in the Bw horizon, confirming that Pope is centered on the more yellow hues that differentiate it from the Linden Series.
Diagnostic horizons recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon: The zone from 0 to 20 centimeters (Ap horizon)
Cambic horizon: The zone from 20 to 107 centimeters (Bw1 and Bw2 horizons)
Revised: 4/94-JHN,WHC,JMR; 7/99-SJH,DBD; 12/99-BAW,DHK; 10/05 JDM
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.