LOCATION CORPENING WY+CO UTEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Lithic Haplustolls
TYPICAL PEDON: Corpening channery loam-on a south facing slope of 6 percent utilized as rangeland. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated.)
A--0 to 6 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) channery loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 15 percent limestone channers; slightly effervescent, calcium carbonate disseminated; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8); clear smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Bk--6 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 5/3) gravelly loam, dark brown (10YR 4/3) moist, moderate medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; 15 percent semirounded limestone gravel and 10 percent channers; strongly effervescent, calcium carbonate as seams and common soft masses; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0), abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
R--16 inches; hard, weakly fractured limestone.
TYPE LOCATION: Weston County, Wyoming, two miles north of Four Corners, 850 feet south, 1,420 feet east of the SW1/4 corner of Sec. 25, T. 43 N., R. 61 W. Owens Quadrangle. 43 degrees 40 minutes 16 seconds north latitude and 104 degrees 8 minutes 11 seconds west longitude.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to hard limestone bedrock ranges from 4 to 20 inches. The mollic epipedon ranges from 4 to 14 inches thick. The soil is typically effervescent to the surface but may be leached a few inches in some pedons. The mean annual soil temperature is 39 to 45 degrees F., and the mean summer soil temperature is 59 to 65 degrees F. The moisture control section is dry for 35 to 45 consecutive days during the 120 days following the summer solstice. The soil matrix in the particle size control section is typically loam but may be clay loam. Clay ranges from 18 to 35 percent and there is greater than 15 percent fine sand or coarser. Coarse fragments range from 5 to 35 percent and are limestone gravel, channers, and cobbles.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 or 5 dry, 2 or 3 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. Typically, the texture is channery loam but may be loam, gravelly loam, or cobbly loam. It is slightly or moderately alkaline.
The Bk horizon has hue of 10YR or 7.5YR, value of 4 through 7 dry, 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is typically channery loam but may be loam or clay loam with or without the channery, cobbly, or gravelly modifier. It is moderately or strongly alkaline. Calcium carbonate as soft masses, seams, and coatings on rock fragments. . Calcium carbonate equivalent ranges form 8 to 14 percent.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Akhoni, Ansari, Falcon, Namur, and Potagannissing series. Akhoni soils lack secondary accumulations of calcium carbonate. Ansari soils have hue of 7.5YR through 10R. Falcon soils have less than 18 percent clay in the particle size control section and are noncalcareous throughout. Namur soils are not dry in the moisture control section for 35 to 45 consecutive days during the 120 days following the summer solstice. Potagannissing soils are somewhat poorly drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Corpening soils occur on all hillslope positions. Slopes are 2 to 30 percent. They formed in alluvium, colluvium, and residuum influenced by the underlying limestone. The average annual precipitation is 15 to 19 inches. The average annual temperature is 38 to 45 degrees F. Elevation ranges from 4,700 to 6,000 feet. The frost-free season is 90 to 110 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Vassett, Pesowyo, and Paunsaugant. These soils all more than 20 inches deep. Paunsaugant soils have more than 35 percent rock fragments in the control section.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; medium to high runoff; moderate permeability above the bedrock.
USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used for rangeland. Native vegetation is little bluestem, western wheatgrass, blue grama, and snakeweed.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Black Hills of northeast Wyoming.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Bozeman, Montana
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Weston County; 1983.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
mollic epipedon - 0 to 7 inches (A, mixed to 7 inches)
lithic contact - 16 inches (R)
MLRR- G
SIR- WY0264
Type location moved from Carbon County, Wyoming, to Weston County, Wyoming.