LOCATION APPOQUINIMINK           DE MD NJ

Established Series
CDP/Rev. JAK-JDK
08/2024

APPOQUINIMINK SERIES


MLRA(s)--149A, 153C, 153D
Depth Class--Very deep
Drainage Class--Very poorly drained
Parent Material--Loamy estuarine deposits over herbaceous organic material
Geomorphic location--Coastal and estuarine tidal marshes
Slope--0 to 1 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature--13 degrees C (55 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation--1118 millimeters (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).

Aseg--0 to 15 centimeters; dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) mucky silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; very fluid; many fine medium and coarse roots; 2 percent shell fragments; 12 percent organic soil material; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 30 centimeters thick)

Cseg1--15 to 53 centimeters; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; very fluid; common very fine, fine, and medium roots and few coarse roots; 10 percent organic soil material; neutral (pH 7.0); gradual smooth boundary.

Cseg2--53 to 81 centimeters; olive gray (5Y 4/2) silty clay loam; massive; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; fluid; common very fine and few fine and medium roots; 8 percent organic soil material; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Cseg horizons is 10 to 91 centimeters)

Oase--81 to 109 centimeters; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) muck; fiber content is one-tenth of the soil volume after rubbing; von Post value H9; 25 percent by weight mineral soil material; few fine roots; neutral (pH 7.0); gradual smooth boundary.

Oese--109 to 200 centimeters; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mucky peat; fiber content is one-third of the soil volume after rubbing; von Post value H6; 30 percent by weight mineral soil material; slightly acid (pH 6.1). (Combined thickness of the O horizon is more than 40 centimeters)

TYPE LOCATION: New Castle County, Delaware; east of Odessa, approximately 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) west and 350 meters (1148 feet) north of the intersection of Old Corbitt Road and state route 9, approximately 60 meters (197 feet) into the marsh west of the bank of the Appoquinimink River.

Latitude--39.4533333
Longitude-- -75.6130556
Datum--WGS84
Coordinate source--Unknown

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the Mineral Layers--40 to 160 centimeters
Thickness of the Underlying Organic Layers--40 centimeters or greater
Rock Fragments--0 to 10 percent, shells and shell fragments in mineral layers
Electrical Conductivity--Greater than 8 dS/m
Soil Reaction--Slightly acid to moderately alkaline (pH 6.1 to 8.4)
Oxidized Reaction--Ultra acid to strongly acid (pH <3.5 to 5.5)
Depth to hypersulfidic materials (oxidized pH 4.0 or less)--0 to 50 centimeters
Total Soil Organic Carbon Stock 0 to 100 centimeters--30 to 37 kg m-2
Total Soil Organic Carbon Stock 0 to 200 centimeters--34 to 83 kg m-2
Manner of failure / fluidity class--Slightly to very fluid throughout the mineral horizons

Aseg horizon
Hue--10YR to 5GY or neutral
Value--2 to 4
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--mucky silt loam, silt loam, or silty clay loam
Organic carbon density--12 to 47 kg C m-3

Cseg horizon
Hue--10YR to 5GY or neutral
Value--2 to 6
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--Silt loam, silty clay loam, or mucky silt loam
Organic carbon density--12 to 47 kg C m-3

O horizons
Hue--5YR to 2.5Y or neutral
Value--2 to 5
Chroma--0 to 4
Texture--Muck or mucky peat, fiber content after rubbing ranges from 5 to 50 percent of the soil volume
Von Post humification scale--Typically H8 to H10 but can be H4 to H7
Organic carbon density--18 to 122 kg C m-3

C'seg horizon (where present)
Hue--10YR to 5GY or neutral
Value--2 to 6
Chroma--0 or 2
Texture-Silt loam, mucky silt loam, loam, very fine sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or sandy loam. Some pedons contain thin lenses of organic soil material less than 20 centimeters thick
Organic carbon density--12 to 47 kg C m-3

COMPETING SERIES:
There are no competing series in the same family.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent Material--Loamy estuarine deposits over herbaceous organic material
Landscape--Coastal estuaries, coastal lowlands, and tidal rivers
Landform--Salt-water or brackish tidal marshes, in estuaries on the landward side of barrier-island lagoons and along tidally influenced rivers and bays
Elevation--0 to 1 meter
Mean Annual Air Temperature--13 to 15 degrees C (55 to 59 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation--965 to 1219 millimeters (38 to 48 inches)
Frost Free Period: 175 to 200 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the Boxiron, Broadkill, Mannington, Mispillion, and Transquaking soils.
Boxiron soils--have a histic epipedon and are on similar landforms
Broadkill soils--do not have a histic epipedon and also do not have buried organic soil materials but do occur on similar landforms
Mannington soils--do not have sulfidic materials and occur in fresh water marshes
Mispillion soils--have organic layers 40 to less than 130 centimeters thick underlain by loamy mineral materials, on similar landforms
Transquaking soils--organic soils with organic layers 130 centimeters or more thick, underlain by loamy mineral layers, on similar landforms

DRAINAGE AND SATURADED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class--Very poorly drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity--Moderately high in mineral horizons and moderately high or high in the organic horizons
Soil moisture regime--Peraquic
Flooding--Very frequent, very brief (flooded by salt or brackish tidal waters twice daily and during significant coastal storm events)

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses--Appoquinimink soils are mainly used as wetland wildlife or as shellfish and small crustacean habitat. Large areas of these soils have been ditched to provide better drainage for mosquito control but have led to marsh degradation and erosion in some areas.
Natural Vegetation--Salt-tolerant wetland herbaceous species, predominantly salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), salt hay (Spartina patens), salt wort (Salicornia sp.), and spike grass (Distichlis spicata).

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General area-- Tidal marshes along the landward side of barrier island lagoons and along tidally influenced rivers and bays in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey
Land Resource Regions--S - Northern Atlantic Slope Diversified Farming Region, T - Atlantic and Gulf Coast Lowland Forest and Crop Region
MLRA(s)--149A, 153C, 153D
Extent--Moderate extent

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Special Projects Region

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.

Carbon stock and carbon density ranges are not primary criteria for defining this series.

Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon include--
Ochric epipedon--the zone from the surface of the soil to a depth of 15 centimeters (Aseg horizon)
Aquic conditions--the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 200 centimeters is continuously saturated (endosaturation)
High n-value--the zone from the surface to 81 centimeters (Aseg, Cseg1, and Cseg2 horizons) is moderately fluid to highly fluid.
Sulfidic materials--incubated samples, to a depth of 200 centimeters, 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 81 to 109 centimeters (Oase horizon) has a fiber content after rubbing that is less than one-sixth of the soil volume
Hemic soil materials--the zone from 109 to 200 centimeters (Oese horizon) has a fiber content after rubbing that is one-sixth to two-fifths of the soil volume

SERIES INTERPRETATION RECORD(s): DE0014

ADDITIONAL DATA:

Some morphological and laboratory data used in this OSD were obtained from: Kim, J.D. 2022. M.S. Thesis. Distribution And Variability of Carbon Stocks in Mid-Atlantic Tidal Marsh Soils. University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

NASIS User Pedon ID-- 1992DE003020


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.