LOCATION BACKBAY                 VA+NC

Established Series
Rev. RLV:DRH:JHW, JDK/RBT
06/2026

BACKBAY SERIES

MLRA(s)--153B
Depth class--Very deep
Drainage class--Very poorly drained
Parent material--Fine-loamy estuarine deposits
Geomorphic location--Estuarine tidal marshes
Slope range--0 to 2 percent
Mean annual air temperature--17 degrees C (63 degrees F)
Mean annual precipitation--1270 millimeters (50 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, thermic Typic Hydraquents

TYPICAL PEDON: Backbay mucky peat in an oligohaline 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).

Oese--0 to 28 centimeters; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mucky peat; 36 percent unrubbed fibers, 28 percent rubbed; structureless, massive; von Post value H5; common fine and medium roots; slight sulfurous odor; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; slight effervescence with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 39 centimeters thick)

Aseg--28 to 56 centimeters; black (10YR 2/1) silt loam; structureless, massive; slightly sticky, slightly plastic, moderately fluid; common fine and common medium roots; slight sulfurous odor; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; slight effervescence with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; slightly acid (pH 6.5); clear smooth boundary. (10 to 76 centimeters thick)

Cseg1--56 to 84 centimeters; gray (10YR 5/1) sandy clay loam; structureless, massive; moderately sticky, slightly plastic, slightly fluid; few medium roots; slight sulfurous odor; color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; slight effervescence with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; few fine flakes of mica; neutral (pH 7.0); clear smooth boundary.

Cseg2--84 to 119 centimeters; gray (N 6/) silty clay loam; structureless, massive; slightly sticky, moderately plastic, slightly fluid; slight sulfurous odor; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; moderate effervescence with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; 10 percent medium distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) iron oxide concentrations; 1 percent fine flakes of mica; neutral (pH 6.7); gradual smooth boundary.

Cseg3--119 to 200 centimeters; gray (N 6/) silty clay loam; structureless, massive; slightly sticky, moderately plastic, slightly fluid; no sulfurous odor; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; slight effervescence with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; 25 percent coarse distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) iron oxide concentrations; 3 percent fine flakes of mica; neutral (pH 6.6).

TYPE LOCATION: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia; in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge; approximately 0.8 kilometers (0.5 miles) northwest of the intersection of Sandpiper Road and North Entrance Road, and approximately 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles) south-southeast of the intersection of Sandfiddler Road and White Cap Lane; USGS topographic quadrangle: North Bay.

Latitude--36.6782722
Longitude-- -75.9196014
Datum--WGS84
Coordinate source--Estimated from other source

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock--Greater than 200 centimeters
Soil moisture regime--Peraquic
Manner of failure / fluidity class--Nonfluid to very fluid through the mineral horizons
Wood fragments--0 to 10 percent in the organic horizons
Sulfurous odor--None to strong
Soil reaction--Strongly acid to slightly alkaline throughout (pH 5.1 to 7.8)
Oxidized reaction--Very strongly acid to slightly acid throughout (pH 4.5 to 6.5)
Depth to hypersulfidic materials (oxidized pH of 4.0 or less)--Greater than 100 centimeters
Electrical conductivity (1:1 soil to water solution)--0.3 to 3.5 dS/m
Salinity class--Nonsaline to very slightly saline
Total soil organic carbon stock 0 to 100 centimeters--24 to 71 kg m-2
Total soil organic carbon stock 0 to 200 centimeters--27 to 89 kg m-2

Oise horizon (where present):
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--3
Chroma--2
Texture--Peat
Von Post humification scale--H1 to H3
Organic carbon density--24 to 71 kg m-3

Oese or Oase horizons:
Hue--5YR to 5Y
Value--2 to 3
Chroma--1 to 2
Texture--Mucky peat or muck
Von Post humification scale--H4 to H10
Organic carbon density--24 to 71 kg m-3

Aseg horizon:
Hue--7.5YR to 5Y, or neutral
Value--2 to 3
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--Sandy loam, loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, or their mucky analogs
Organic carbon density--25 to 40 kg m-3

Cseg or 2Cseg horizons:
Hue--10YR to 10Y, or neutral
Value--2.5 to 6
Chroma--0 to 3
Texture--Sand, loamy sand, loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, or their mucky analogs
Organic carbon density--2 to 17 kg m-3
Other remarks--Horizon is commonly stratified and has lenses of sandy or clayey materials. Few or common very fine or fine flakes of mica.

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

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape--Southeast coastal plain estuaries
Landform--Estuarine tidal marshes along oligohaline creeks, rivers, bays, and sounds
Parent Material--Fine-loamy estuarine deposits
Slope--0 to 2 percent
Elevation--0 to 1 meter
Water salinity range--0.5 to 5 parts per thousand
Frost free period--230 to 360 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the Coratank, Currituck, Delway, Duckston, Goosecastle, Longshoal, Rappahannock, and Sandbridge soils.
Coratank soils--formed in herbaceous organic materials over loamy estuarine deposits.
Currituck soils--formed in thick herbaceous organic materials over sandy marine deposits.
Delway soils--formed in thick herbaceous and woody organic materials over loamy fluviomarine deposits and are in estuaries that have salinities of 5 to 30 parts per thousand.
Duckston soils--are in shallow depressions between coastal dunes, are poorly drained, and are sandy throughout the profile.
Goosecastle soils--formed in thick herbaceous organic materials underlain by loamy fluviomarine deposits.
Longshoal soils--formed in thick herbaceous organic materials and are in estuaries that have salinities of 5 to 30 parts per thousand.
Rappahannock soils--formed in herbaceous organic materials over loamy estuarine deposits, contain hypersulfidic materials, and are in estuaries that have salinities of 5 to 30 parts per thousand.
Sandbridge soils--formed in herbaceous organic materials over sandy marine deposits and contain hypersulfidic materials.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class--Very poorly drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity--Moderately high to high
Soil moisture regime--Peraquic
Flooding--The soils are flooded by wind tides. Backbay soils are not normally subject to inundation from lunar tides.

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses--Backbay soils are used mainly as wetland wildlife habitat. Typical vegetation--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. In some areas, much of the native vegetation has been overtaken by invasive common reed (Phragmites australis).

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General area--Coastal plain estuaries in North Carolina and Virgina
Land Resource Regions--T - Atlantic and Gulf Coast Lowland Forest and Crop Region
MLRA(s)--153B
Extent--Small

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1980

REMARKS:
The series is named after Back Bay, a barrier-island lagoon in southeastern Virginia that connects to Currituck Sound in North Carolina.

Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are (Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Thirteenth Edition, 2022):
Taxonomic class--Removed from an Inceptisol and added to the Typic Hydraquents subgroup per current laboratory analysis and soil horizons from Backbay pedons.
Histic epipedon--The zone from 0 to 28 centimeters.
Hemic soil materials--The zone from 0 to 28 centimeters.
Fluidity--The zone from 28 to 200 centimeters has a fluidity of slightly to moderately fluid.
Peraquic feature--Zero or positive water potential at or near the soil surface.

Various chemical and physical data for these marsh soils are contained in a Master's Thesis, Pedogenic Investigations of Tidal Marsh Soils in Virginia, by Gary A. Reusche, VPI & SU, 1975.

NASIS User Pedon ID: 1992VA810388

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.