LOCATION COWEE                   NC+GA VA

Established Series
MLS, MSH, BPS/ Rev. MDJ
05/2013

COWEE SERIES

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, parasesquic, mesic Typic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Cowee gravelly sandy loam--forested. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)

Oi--0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 inch); slightly decomposed leaves, twigs, roots, and other organic matter.

A--5 to 18 cm (2 to 7 inches); reddish brown (5YR 4/4) gravelly sandy loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; common fine and medium flakes of mica; 20 percent by volume gneiss gravel; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (3 to 25 cm; 1 to 10 inches thick)

Bt1--18 to 38 cm (7 to 15 inches); red (2.5YR 4/8) gravelly sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; common faint clay films on faces of peds; common fine and medium flakes of mica;20 percent by volume gneiss gravel; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.

Bt2--38 to 74 cm (15 to 29 inches); red (2.5YR 5/8) gravelly sandy clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine roots; common fine and medium flakes of mica; common faint clay films on faces of peds; 30 percent by volume gneiss gravel; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 25 to 71 cm; 10 to 28 inches.)

Cr--74 to 157cm (29 to 62 inches); weathered, multicolored hornblende gneiss; that can be dug with difficulty with hand tools; rock structure; partly consolidated in place; few fine roots in cracks; cracks are more than 10 cm (4 inches) apart.

TYPE LOCATION:
County: Jackson
State: North Carolina
USGS Quadrangle: Sylva South
Latitude: 35.352906 N (NAD 27)
Longitude: 83.132938 W (NAD 27)
Directions to the pedon: Jackson County, North Carolina; 1.1 miles northeast of Cullowhee from the Tuckasegee River on old N.C. Highway 107; 1.7 miles north of Black Mountain Baptist Church; 0.5 mile north on U.S. Forest Service access road and 500 feet west on U.S. Forest Service Trail, 25 feet north of trail.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: 51 to 102 cm to weathered bedrock, (20 to 40 inches)
Depth Class: Moderately Deep
Rock Fragment content: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, but typically less than 20 percent throughout the profile.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to moderately acid in the A horizons, except where limed; very strongly acid or strongly acid in the B and C horizons.
Content of Mica: 0 to 20 percent, by volume mica flakes throughout

Range of Individual Horizons:
A or Ap horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 2 to 8. Where value and chroma are 3 or less, horizon is less than 18 cm (7 inches thick)
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam.
Other features--Some eroded pedons have a surface layer that is sandy clay loam or clay loam, and a hue of 2.5YR to 5YR.

E horizon (if it occurs):
Color: Hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 4 or 6, and chroma of 3 to 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction): sandy loam, or fine sandy loam.

AB or BA horizon (if they occur):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 4 to 8, and chroma of 4 to 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy clay loam.

Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8. In addition, subhorizons of the Bt horizon, but not the entire Bt horizon, may have hue of 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy clay loam, loam, or clay loam.

BC horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 7.5YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam.
Non-redoximorphic mottles (if they occur)--shades of red, brown, or yellow are in some pedons.

C/Bt horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8; or is multicolored in shades of yellow, brown, red or gray.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--C is sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loam saprolite; Bt is loam or sandy clay loam.
Non-redoximorphic mottles (if they occur)--shades of red, brown, yellow, or gray mottles of relic rock material are in some pedons.

C horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5YR to 10YR, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 4 to 8; or is multicolored in shades of yellow, brown, red or gray.
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sandy loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loam, loamy fine sand, or loamy sand saprolite.
Non-redoximorphic mottles (if they occur)--shades of red, brown, or yellow. Gray or black mottles of relic rock material are in some pedons.

Cr horizon:
Bedrock kind--felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rock such as amphibolite and hornblende gneiss.
Bedrock hardness--moderately cemented
Fracture interval--greater than 10 cm (4 inches)
Excavation difficulty--moderate to high

COMPETING SERIES:
Brevard soils--very deep (more than 152 cm, 60 inches); formed on colluvial or old alluvial landform positions.
Evard soils--very deep (more than 152 cm, 60 inches)
Stott Knob soils--adjoining Mesic areas of the Southern Piedmont (MLRA 136).
Walhalla soils--very deep (more than 152 cm, 60 inches); have a thicker argillic horizon, 71 to 140 cm (28 to 55 inches).

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
MLRA(s) using this series: Southern Blue Ridge--130B
Landscape: Intermountain hills, low and intermediate mountains
Landform: Mountain slope, hillslopes, and ridges
Geomorphic Component: Mountain top, mountain flank, side slope, and interfluves
Hillslope Profile Position: Summit, shoulder, and backslope
Parent Material Origin: Felsic to mafic, igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks, such as mica gneiss, hornblende gneiss, and amphibolite.
Parent Material Kind: Residuum that is affected by soil creep in the upper solum.
Slope: Typically 15 to 50 percent, but range from 2 to 95 percent.
Elevation: 427 to 1341 meters; (1,400 to 4,400 feet)
Frost-free period: 150 to 210 days
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 8 to 14 degrees C., (46 to 57 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1143 to 2286 millimeters, (45 to 90 inches)

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
In addition to the competing Brevard and Evard series, these are:
Edneytown and Pigeonroost soils--browner, on closely related landforms.
Clifton and Rabun soils have a fine particle size class, on related landforms.
Ashe, Buladean, Chestnut, and Edneyville soils--do not have an argillic horizon, on related landforms.
Brownwood, Cashiers, Chandler, Fannin, Micaville, and Watauga soils--are in a micaceous family, on related landforms. In addition, Brownwood, Cashiers, Chandler, and Micaville do not have an argillic horizon; Cashiers soils have thicker, darker surface layers, on ridges and side slopes of cool north to east aspects.
Cleveland and Saluda soils--have bedrock within a depth of 50 cm (20 inches), on related landforms.
Cullasaja, Greenlee, Haywood, Saunook, Tate, Thunder, Tuckasegee, and Tusquitee soils--are on colluvial benches, toe slopes, and fans. In addition, Cullasaja, Haywood, Saunook, Thunder, Tuckasegee, and Tusquitee soils have thicker, darker surface layers.
Huntdale, Plott, Porters, Trimont, and Unaka soils--with thicker, darker surface layers, on ridges and side slopes of cool north to east aspects. In addition, Plott, Porters, and Unaka do not have an argillic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class: Well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very deep
Index Surface Runoff: Very low or low runoff where forest litter has not been disturbed or only partially removed; medium to high runoff where litter has been removed.
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Class: High
Permeability Class (obsolete): Moderately rapid
Shrink-swell Class: Low
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland, less often pasture, hayland, and rarely cultivated crops.
Dominant Vegetation: Where wooded--chestnut oak, white oak, scarlet oak, black oak, hickory with some eastern white pine, Virginia pine, and shortleaf pine. Understory includes flowering dogwood, American chestnut sprouts, sourwood, mountain laurel, flame azalea, and buffalo nut.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Southern Blue Ridge (MLRA 130-B) of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Extent: Large--more than 100,000 acres.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Alexander County, North Carolina, 1988.

REMARKS: Cowee soils were previously mapped with Saluda and Evard. The Cowee Series recognizes soils that are moderately deep, 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches), to weathered bedrock. Saluda soils are shallow and Evard soils are very deep.
The 1/98 revision places the Cowee series in a fine-loamy, parasesquic, mesic Typic Hapludults family. The series was formerly in a mixed mineralogy family. CEC activity class placement is based on sample pedon S85-NC-099-003 and on similar soils such as Brevard and Evard.

Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
a. Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 18 cm, 0 to 7 inches (Oi and A horizons)
b. Argillic horizon--the zone from 18 to 74 cm, 7 to 29 inches (Bt horizons)
c. Paralithic contact--the contact with weathered rock at 74 cm, 29 inches (upper boundary of the Cr horizon).
d. Parasesquic mineralogy class - total iron oxide, by weight (DCB Fe multiplied by 1.43) plus percent, by weight, gibbsite of more than 25 cm, 10 in the fine-earth fraction.
e. Series control section--the zone from 18 to 69cm, 7 to 27 inches

ADDITIONAL DATA:
Soil Characterization Data is available from the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) website for the following pedon:

http://ncsslabdatamart.sc.egov.usda.gov/querypage.aspx
Pedon ID #: 85NC099003; Lab Pedon #: 85P0634

Revised: 10/1992-MLS, AG, CD; 1/1998-DHK; 2/2002-MKC; 5/2013-Semi tab format and minor changes to Range in Characteristics, MLRA 130B.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.