LOCATION BROADKILL DE+MD NJ
Established Series
CDP-PK/Rev. JAK
11/2015
BROADKILL SERIES
MLRA(s): 149A, 153C, 153D
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible
Internal Free Water Occurance: Very shallow; Permanent
Permeability: Moderate or moderately slow above 40 inches and variable below 40 inches
Parent Material: Loamy marine sediments, high in silt
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 57 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 44 inches
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, mesic Typic Sulfaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Broadkill mucky peat--salt marsh. (Colors are for a moist soil).
Oe--0 to 6 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) mucky peat (hemic soil materials); 60 percent herbaceous fibers, 25 percent rubbed; 34 percent organic material; many very fine, fine, and medium and common coarse roots (70 percent of volume is a dense mat of live roots and stems); electrical conductivity 26.2 mmhos/cm; neutral (pH 6.6), ultra acid (pH 2.9) after moist incubation; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick).
Ag--6 to 13 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) and very dark gray (5Y 3/1) silty clay loam; massive; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine or medium and common coarse roots; electrical conductivity 27.3 mmhos/cm; n-value greater than 1.0, material flows easily between the fingers when squeezed; neutral (pH 6.8), ultra acid (pH 3.4) after moist incubation; gradual smooth boundary. (0 to 12 inches thick)
Cg1--13 to 32 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) and dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) silty clay loam; massive; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; electrical conductivity 26.7 mmhos/cm; n-value greater than 1.0, material flows easily between the fingers when squeezed; neutral (pH 6.8), extremely acid (pH 4.3) after moist incubation; clear smooth boundary.
Cg2--32 to 38 inches; dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) silt loam; massive; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine and few medium roots; electrical conductivity 29.5 mmhos/cm; n-value greater than 1.0, material flows easily between the fingers when squeezed; neutral (pH 6.6), strongly acid (pH 5.2) after moist incubation; diffuse smooth boundary.
Cg3--38 to 80 inches; very dark gray (5Y 3/1) silt loam; massive; friable; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few fine and medium roots; electrical conductivity 32.7 mmhos/cm; n-value greater than 1.0, material flows easily between the fingers when squeezed; neutral (pH 6.7), moderately acid (pH 5.6) after moist incubation.
TYPE LOCATION: Sussex County, Delaware; about 400 feet east and 600 feet south of the junction of County Road 264 and the Broadkill River; lat. 38 degrees 48 minutes 02 seconds N. and long. 75 degrees 12 minutes 08 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: +12 to 0 inches, January to December and continuously saturated with water and flooded twice daily by tides
Depth to Underlying Organic layers: Greater than 40 inches
Rock Fragments: absent in the upper 40 inches, 0 to 5 percent, by volume below 40 inches
Electrical Conductivity: Greater than 16 mmhos/cm
Soil Reaction: Slightly acid to slightly alkaline, throughout the profile, after moist incubation, ultra acid or extremely acid within 20 inches of the surface
Other Features: Many pedons, once exposed, form jarosite mottles. The n-value to a depth of 40 inches is 0.7 or more. Below 40 inches it is variable.
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
O horizon:
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 or 2
Texture--mucky peat or peat (commonly, over 60 percent of the soil volume consists of live roots and stems)
Ag horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 5BG, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4
Texture--silt loam, silty clay loam, or silty clay, including the mucky texture modifier
Organic Matter Content: 2 to 12 percent
Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 5BG, value of 2 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 7
Texture (above of 40 inches)--silt loam or silty clay loam and may contain thin lenses of organic or coarse-textured soil materials
Texture (below 40 inches)--silty clay loam, silt loam, loam, sandy loam, loamy sand, or sand
COMPETING SERIES: None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal Plain marshes
Landform: Estuarine tidal salt marshes--flooded twice daily by tides and occasionally by storm surges
Elevation: 0 to 2 feet
Parent Material: Loamy marine sediments, high in silt
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 52 to 58 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 36 to 55 inches
Frost Free Period: 175 to 200 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Appoquinimink soils--have within 40 inches of the soil surface organic layers more than 8 inches thick, on similar landforms
Boxiron soils--have a histic epipedon, on similar landforms
Pawcatuck soils--organic sols with organic layers 16 to 51 inches thick, underlain by sandy mineral layers, on similar landforms
Transquaking soils--organic sols with organic layers more than 51 inches thick, underlain by loamy mineral layers, on similar landforms
Westbrook soils--organic sols with organic layers 16 to 51 inches thick, underlain by loamy mineral layers, on similar landforms
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible
Internal Free Water Occurance: Very shallow; Permanent
Permeability: Moderate or moderately slow above 40 inches and variable below 40 inches
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Primarily as wetland wildlife--shellfish and small crustacean habitat. Large areas in Delaware have been ditched to provide better drainage for mosquito control. Some areas were previously filled to provide waterfront homesites.
Dominant Vegetation: The natural vegetation is salt-tolerant wetland species, predominantly salt marsh cordgrass, salt hay, salt wort, and spike grass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: Coastal areas of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey.
Extent: Moderate
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Worcester County, Maryland, 1995.
REMARKS: Broadkill soils were formerly mapped as Tidal Marsh miscellaneous areas. They become extremely acid when drained.
Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Hemic soil materials--the zone from 0 to 6 inches has a fiber content, after rubbing, that is one-sixth to two-fifths of the soil volume
Ochric epipedon--the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 13 inches (Oe and Ag horizons)
Peraquic 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 80 inches has n-value greater than 0.7 typically greater than 1.0.
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
SERIES INTERPRETATION RECORDS(S): DE0010
ADDITIONAL DATA: None
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
DE0010 BROADKILL 0-2 52- 58 175-200 36-55 0-2
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness
DE0010 FREQ +1.0-0.0 APPARENT JAN-DEC >60
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC-
DE0010 0- 6 MPT PEAT 0- 0 - 0- 0 250-420
DE0010 0- 6 MK-SIL 0- 0 100-100 14-18 250-420
DE0010 0- 6 SICL MK-SICL SIC 0- 0 100-100 30-40 250-580
DE0010 6-38 SIL SICL 0- 0 100-100 25-35 130-260
DE0010 38-72 SR SICL S 0- 0 75-100 5-30 20-200
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll
DE0010 0- 6 6.1- 7.8 20-40 16-32 2.0- 20 LOW
DE0010 0- 6 6.1- 7.8 5.-15 16-32 0.6- 2.0 LOW
DE0010 0- 6 6.1- 7.8 3.-18 16-32 0.2- 2.0 MODERATE
DE0010 6-38 6.1- 7.8 2.-10 16-32 0.2- 2.0 MODERATE
DE0010 38-72 6.1- 7.8 .5-20 16-32 0.2- 20 LOW
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.