Co Cork: Diverse landscape with a variety of soils

As the largest county in Ireland, Cork is naturally home to a diverse landscape that results in a variety of soils. Overall, the county could be described as a series of undulating hills and valleys. The south of the county is characterised by sandstone bedrock and towards the west, around Bandon and beyond, this gives rise to brown podzolic soils which are slightly acidic and free-draining in nature.

To the east and northeast of the county towards Fermoy lie undulating lowlands typified by brown earth soils. In the northwest, around Newmarket, surface- water gley soils dominate the wet undulating shale bedrock, with peaty topsoils found at the flatter ground.

In mountainous areas, such as those in the southwest that stretch down to the Beara, Sheep’s Head and Mizen peninsulas, the presence of upland blanket peat is common and on the steeper slopes is shallow in places (known as histic lithosols).

Rivers

In general, the three main rivers in the county (the Lee, the Bandon and the Blackwater) provide natural drainage, but the presence of surface-water gleys is not unusual in lowland areas.

Overall, the most prevalent soil in the county is the typical brown podzolic. This accounts for one-third of the soil in Cork. Brown podzolic soils have lost much of their nutrients (in particular iron and aluminium) as a result of acidic conditions and high rainfall over time. So these soils can be considered as nutrient poor and may benefit from liming periodically. These soils are naturally free-draining, so should not require any additional drainage.

Rosscarbery series

One of the best-known brown podzolic soils would be the Rosscarbery series. This soil was first named by the original An Foras Talúntais soil survey of west Cork in 1963, after the townland of Rosscarbery. This was the original location where this soil type would have been classified. It can be found extensively in west Cork (soil association 0900e led by subgroup 0900 on the soils map).

Efforts to harmonise soil information mean that this soil may be found elsewhere in Ireland, but it was originally classified in west Cork.

Brown earth soils are the next most common soil, representing almost another third. Common in the east and northeast of the county, these soils are considered a farmer’s friend and are typically free-draining but have good nutrient retention.

Water-affected soils are also found in Cork, especially in the north and west. These surface-water gleys are found on heavy glacial till which gives rise to heavy textured sub-soils and as a result are poorly drained, making them difficult to work with.