LOCATION BACKBAY VA+NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, thermic Histic Humaquepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Backbay mucky peat - in a marsh at about sea level. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated. When described, the soil was flooded with about 12 inches of water.)
Oe--0 to 11 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mucky peat (hemic material); about 36 percent fiber, 28 percent rubbed; massive; common fine and medium roots; sodium pyrophosphate very pale brown (10YR 7/3); slight sulfide odor; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
A--11 to 22 inches; black (10YR 2/1) silt loam; weak medium granular structure; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and medium roots; slightly acid; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 30 inches thick)
Cg1--22 to 33 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) sandy clay loam; massive; sticky, slightly plastic; few medium roots; few fine flakes of mica; neutral; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 20 inches thick)
Cg2--33 to 47 inches; gray (N 6/0) silty clay loam; common medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) mottles; massive; slightly sticky, plastic; few fine flakes of mica; neutral; gradual smooth boundary. (6 to 16 inches thick)
Cg3--47 to 60 inches; gray (N 6/0) silty clay loam; many coarse distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) mottles; massive; slightly sticky, plastic; common fine flakes of mica; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia; approximately 1,900 feet from the eastern side of Long Island and 1,000 feet from the northern edge of Long Island in the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The upper 20 inches of the mineral soil does not have sulfidic materials and the n-value is less than 0.7 in the mineral layers. The soil ranges from very strongly acid through moderately acid in the organic surface layer and from strongly acid through neutral in the mineral horizons. Sulfur content in the organic surface layer ranges from about 0.1 to 1.4 percent. The organic material is mainly from herbaceous plants.
The 0 horizon has hue of 5YR or 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. It is mucky peat or muck.
The A horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y or is neutral, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5B or is neutral, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 0 to 2. It is sandy loam, loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, or silty clay loam. It commonly is stratified and has subhorizons of sandy or clayey materials. Flakes of mica are few or common.
COMPETING SERIES: The Wasda series is the only other series in this family. Wasda soils support merchantable trees. Other series in closely related families include the Axis, Bohicket, Capers, Carteret, Currituck, Handsboro, Levy, and Rappahannock. Axis soils have a coarse-loamy particle size control section and are flooded daily with seawater. Bohicket and Capers soils have sulfidic materials in the upper 20 inches of the mineral soil material. Carteret soils have a sandy particle size control section and are flooded daily with seawater. Currituck, Handsboro, and Rappahannock are organic soils. Levy soils have a fine particle size control section and n-values greater than 0.7.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Backbay soils are on fresh water and brackish water marshes along creeks, rivers, and sounds of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. They are not normally subject to the tidal effects of saline water. They are irregularly flooded by wind tides throughout the year. The soils formed primarily in loamy marine and fluvial sediments underlying thin organic materials from herbaceous plants. The climate is humid temperate with mean annual precipitation of about 45 inches and mean annual temperature of about 59 degrees F near the type location.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Currituck, Levy, and Rappahannock soils, these include Dragston, Delway, Duckston, Longshoal, Munden, Nimmo, and Tomotley soils. All of these soils, except Delway and Longshoal, are at higher elevations. In addition, Dragston, Munden, and Nimmo soils have a coarse-loamy particle size control section. Duckston soils are sandy throughout. Tomotley soils have a fine-loamy particle size control section. Delway and Longshoal soils are Histosols.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; moderate to moderately slow permeability. The water table is from 12 inches above the surface or at the surface most of the time. The soils are frequently flooded by wind tides.
USE AND VEGETATION: Backbay soils are used mainly as wetland wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is dominantly needlegrass rush (Juncus roemerianus), saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus robustus), big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides), narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia), and other aquatic plants. Areas transitional to higher elevations have scattered eastern baccharis (Baccharis halimifolia), waxmyrtle (Myrica cerifera), and black willow (Salix nigra) shrubs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal Plain of Virginia and North Carolina. The soils are of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1980. The name is from Back Bay.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Various chemical and physical data for these marsh soils are contained in a Masters Thesis, Pedogenic Investigations of Tidal Marsh Soils in Virginia, by Gary A. Reusche, VPI & SU, 1975.
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation VA0170 BACKBAY 0- 1 59- 65 190-240 40- 50 0- 5SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness VA0170 FREQ 0- 0 APPARENT JAN-DEC 60-60
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- VA0170 0-11 PEAT MPT - - 0- 0 - VA0170 11-22 SL L SIL 0- 0 100-100 10-27 - VA0170 22-60 SR SL SICL 0- 0 100-100 8-34 -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll VA0170 0-11 4.5- 6.0 20-60 2- 8 2.0- 6.0 LOW VA0170 11-22 5.1- 7.3 1.-5. 2- 4 0.2- 2.0 LOW VA0170 22-60 5.1- 7.3 1.-5. 0- 2 0.2- 2.0 MODERATE