LOCATION APPOQUINIMINK DE+MD NJ
Established Series
CDP/Rev. JAK
11/2015
APPOQUINIMINK SERIES
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Thapto-histic Sulfaquents
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
DEPTH CLASS: Very deep
DRAINAGE CLASS: Very poorly drained
PERMEABILITY: Moderately slow in the minerial layers and moderately rapid or rapid in the organic layers
SURFACE RUNOFF: Very slow or ponded
PARENT MATERIAL: Loamy fluvial sediments, high in silt, overlying organic materials dominantly from herbaceous plants
SLOPE: 0 to 1 percent
MEAN ANNUAL AIR TEMPERATURE (type location): 56 degrees F.
MEAN ANNUAL PRECIPITATION (type location): 44 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Thapto-Histic Sulfaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Appoquinimink mucky silt loam, on a smooth 0 percent slope, in an estuarine salt marsh. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted.)
Ag--0 to 6 inches; dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) mucky silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; many fine medium and coarse live roots; few small shell fragments; n value greater than 1.0, soil flows easily between fingers when squeezed; 12 percent organic soil material; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 12 inches thick)
Cg1--6 to 21 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; common very fine, fine, and medium roots and few coarse roots; n value greater than 1.0, soil flows easily between fingers when squeezed; 10 percent organic soil material; neutral; gradual smooth boundary.
Cg2--21 to 32 inches; olive gray (5Y 4/2) silty clay loam; massive; sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; n value greater than 1.0, material flows easily between fingers when squeezed; 8 percent organic soil material; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Cg horizon is 4 to 36 inches.)
Oa--32 to 43 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) muck, sapric soil material; fiber content is one-tenth of the soil volume after rubbing; 25 percent by weight mineral soil material; few fine roots; neutral; gradual smooth boundary.
Oe--43 to 80 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mucky peat, hemic soil material; fiber content is one-third of the soil volume after rubbing; 30 percent by weight mineral soil material; slightly acid. (Combined thickness of the O horizon is more than 16 inches.)
TYPE LOCATION: New Castle County, Delaware; east of Odessa, about 1.1 miles west and 1150 feet north of the intersection of county roads 424 and 439, about 400 feet into the marsh northeast of the bank of the Appoquinimink River; lat. 39 degrees 27 minutes 12 seconds N. and long. 75 degrees 36 minutes 47 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the Surface Mineral Layers: 16 to 40 inches
Thickness of the Underlying Organic Layers: More than 16 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 99 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 inches, January to December
Rock Fragments: 0 to 10 percent, by volume in mineral layers, mostly shells and shell fragments
Salinity Class: Moderately saline or strongly saline
Electrical Conductivity: Greater than 8 mmohs/cm
Soil Reaction: Moist samples range from slightly acid to mildly alkaline, upon drying range from ultra acid to strongly acid
Other Features: High n-value, more than 0.7, typically more than 1.0
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS
Ag horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5GY, value of 2 to 4 chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4
Texture--mucky silt loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Organic Matter Content--5 to 15 percent
Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5GY, value of 2 to 6, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 6
Texture--silt loam, silty clay loam, or mucky silt loam
Organic Matter Content: 1 to 10 percent, some pedons contain thin lenses of organic soil material less than 8 inches thick
O horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 5 chroma of 1 to 4, or is neutral with value of 2 to 5
Texture--muck or mucky peat (sapric or hemic soil materials), fiber content after rubbing ranges from 5 to 50 percent of the soil volume
Mineral Material Content: 10 to 70 percent by weight, lenses of silt, silt loam, or very fine sand range from none to common throughout the organic layers
C'g horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5GY, value of 2 to 6, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 6
Texture-silt loam, mucky silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam
Organic Matter Content: 1 to 10 percent, some pedons contain thin lenses of organic soil material less than 8 inches thick
COMPETING SERIES:
Broadkill soils--do not have organic layers more than 8 inches thick in the upper 72 inches, on similar landforms
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal Plain
Landform: Salt-water tidal marshes in estuaries which are continuously saturated and flooded twice daily by tidal waters
Elevation: 0 to 2 feet
Parent Material: Loamy fluvial sediments, high in silt, overlying organic materials dominantly from herbaceous plants
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 55 to 58 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 38 to 48 inches
Frost Free Period: 175 to 200 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Mispillion soils--organic soils with organic layers 16 to 51 inches thick, on similar landforms
Transquaking soils--organic soils and lack mineral layers greater than 16 inches thick within the upper 51 inches of the soil
Broadkill soils--do not have organic layers more than 8 inches thick in the upper 72 inches, on similar landforms
Mannington soils--do not have sulfidic materials, in fresh water influenced marshes
MAJOR USES: Used mainly as wetland wildlife or as shellfish and small crustacean habitat. Large areas of these soils in
Delaware have been ditched to provide better drainage for mosquito control.
VEGETATION: The natural vegetation is salt-tolerant wetland herbaceous species, predominantly salt marsh cordgrass, salt hay, salt wort, and spike grass.
DISTRIBUTION: Coastal and estuarine areas of
Delaware, Maryland, and New
Jersey, Maryland, and New Jersey
EXTENT: Moderate
SERIES ESTABLISHED:
Cape
May County, New
Jersey, 1997.
REMARKS: Appoquinimink soils were formerly mapped as tidal marsh miscellaneous areas. These soils become extremely acid when drained or removed from the marsh.
Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 6 inches (Ag horizon)
Aquic conditions--the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 80 inches is continuously saturated (endosaturation)
High n value--the zone from the surface to 32 inches has n value greater than 0.7, typically greater than 1.0, material flows easily between the fingers when squeezed.
Sulfidic materials--incubated samples, to a depth of 80 inches, show a drop in pH of 0.5 or more units to a pH value of 4.0 or less within 8 weeks
Sapric soil materials--the zone from 32 to 43 inches has a fiber content after rubbing that is less than one-sixth of the soil volume
Hemic soil materials--the zone from 43 to 80 inches has a a fiber content after rubbing that is one-sixth to two-fifths of the soil volume
SERIES INTERPRETATION RECORD(s): DE0014
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
DE0014 APPOQUINIMINK 0-1 55-58 175-200 36-55 0-2
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
DE0014 FREQ 0- 0 APPARENT JAN-DEC >99
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
DE0014 0- 6 MK-SIL SIL SICL 0- 0 100-100 15-30 250-580
DE0014 6-32 SIL SICL MK-SIL 0- 0 100-100 15-35 100-420
DE0014 32-80 MUCK MPT 0- 0 - - 70-140
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
DE0014 0- 6 5.6- 7.3 3.-18 16-32 0.2- 2.0 LOW
DE0014 6-32 5.6- 7.3 2.-12 16-32 0.2- 2.0 MODERATE
DE0014 32-80 5.6- 7.3 20-45 8-16 2.0- 20 MODERATE
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.