LOCATION COOKPORT WV+MD PA
Established Series
Rev. AWD-DGF-ART
04/2025
COOKPORT SERIES
The Cookport series consists of deep and very deep, moderately well drained soils formed in residuum weathered primarily from sandstone but includes some materials from shale and siltstone. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan and low in the fragipan. Slope ranges from 0 to 25 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 1270 millimeters, and mean annual temperature is about 11.1 degrees C.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Aquic Fragiudults
TYPICAL PEDON: Cookport loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes - in a hardwood forest. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Oe -- 0 to 2 centimeters; moderately decomposed leaf litter.
A -- 2 to 8 centimeters; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) loam; moderate medium granular structure; very friable; few coarse and very coarse roots, and many very fine, fine, and medium roots; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 13 centimeters thick)
BA -- 8 to 23 centimeters; brown (10YR 4/3) loam; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; friable; few coarse and very coarse roots, and many very fine, fine and medium roots; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 25 centimeters thick)
Bt1 -- 23 to 43 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) loam; moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine, coarse and very coarse roots, and many fine and medium roots; few faint clay films on faces of peds and in pores; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Bt2 -- 43 to 56 centimeters; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few very fine, fine, and medium roots; few distinct clay films on faces of peds and in pores; common medium faint brown (10YR 5/3) and common medium distinct grayish brown (10YR 5/2) iron depletions, and common medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (combined thickness of Bt horizon is 20 to 46 centimeters)
Btx -- 56 to 107 centimeters; brown (10YR 5/3) loam; moderate coarse and very coarse prismatic structure parting to moderate medium subangular blocky; firm; few very fine roots along faces of peds; few faint clay films in pores; common medium faint grayish brown (10YR 5/2) redoximorphic depletions and common medium distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) masses of iron accumulation in vertical streaks throughout the horizon; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (30 to 61 centimeters thick)
C -- 107 to 125 centimeters; mixed yellowish brown (10YR 5/6), light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4), strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) and light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) loam; massive; firm; 10 percent sandstone rock fragments; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
R -- 125 centimeters; hard gray sandstone.
TYPE LOCATION: Greenbrier County, West Virginia; on Muddy Creek Mountain; approximately 2.7 miles east-northeast of the intersection of State Route 12 and State Route 40; approximately 0.5 mile southeast of State Route 40; USGS Fort Spring topographic quadrangle; latitude 37 degrees 44 minutes 47 seconds N. and longitude 80 degrees 35 minutes 26 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 71 to 122 centimeters. Depth to the fragipan ranges from 40 to 76 centimeters. Depth to bedrock is 100 to 185 centimeters. Rock fragments range from 0 to 30 percent in the solum and from 10 to 65 percent in the C horizon. Reaction is strongly acid through extremely acid in all horizons below an Ap horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction. Some pedons have an Ap horizon with values ranging to 4 and ranging in thickness from 20 to 30 centimeters.
The BA, BE or E horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 6. Texture is silt loam, loam or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Bt horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. Texture is loam, sandy loam, clay loam, or sandy clay loam in the fine-earth fraction.
The Btx horizon has hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 3 to 8. Texture is loam, sandy clay loam, sandy loam, or clay loam in the fine-earth fraction. Consistence is very firm or firm and brittle.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 2 to 6. Texture is loam, sandy clay loam, or sandy loam in the fine-earth fraction.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Glenville,
Kedron and
Raritan series in the same family. The
Belvoir,
Buchanan,
Calverton and
Ernest series are in related families. Calverton and Ernest soils have less than 20 percent sand in the B2 horizons. Belvoir soils have rock fragments of quartz and granodiorite in the control section. Buchanan and Raritan soils have sola thicker than 40 inches. Glenville soils lack sandstone fragments and have sola strongly influenced by micaceous rocks. Kedron soils have hues of 5YR redder in the B horizon.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Cookport soils are on broad nearly level to gently sloping ridgetops and moderately steep sideslopes. They developed in material weathered from interbedded sandstone, siltstone and in places, a minor component of shale. The climate is humid cool temperate. Average annual precipitation ranges from 1016 to 1524 millimeters and the growing season is 120 to 160 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: Cookport soils are in a drainage sequence with the well drained
Clymer,
Hazleton, and
Dekalb soils and the poorly drained
Lickdale and
Nolo soils.
Gilpin,
Wharton, and
Cavode soils commonly are nearby, lack a fragipan and formed in finer textured material.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. The potential for surface runoff ranges from medium to very high; saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high above the fragipan and low in the fragipan.
USE AND VEGETATION: Much of the soil remains in forest; mainly oaks, cherry, maple. Cleared areas are cropped to corn, small grain, hay and buckwheat or are in pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The unglaciated Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania, western Maryland and West Virginia. Primarily major land resource area (MLRA) 127, but small areas are in MLRA's 124, 126 and 147. The extent is large.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1931.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
1. ochric epipedon - the zone from the surface to a depth of 23 centimeters (A, BA horizons);
2. argillic horizon - the zone from 23 to 107 centimeters (Bt1, Bt2, Btx horizons);
3. fragipan - the zone from 56 to 107 centimeters (Btx).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.