LOCATION CHINCOTEAGUE VAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, nonacid, thermic Typic Sulfaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Chincoteague silt loam - salt marsh. (Colors are for moist soil.)
A--0 to 6 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine, medium and coarse roots; many fiddler crab burrows; moderate sulfur dioxide odor; 2.0 n-value; EC 155 dS/m; SAR 53; neutral (pH 7.0), ultra acid (pH 3.0) after moist incubation; diffuse smooth boundary. (2 to 15 inches thick)
Cg1--6 to 13 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silty clay loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and medium roots; moderate sulfur dioxide odor; 2.0 n-value; EC 155 dS/m; SAR 53; neutral (pH 7.0), ultra acid (pH 3.0) after moist incubation; diffuse smooth boundary.
Cg2--13 to 26 inches; dark gray (5Y 4./1) silty clay loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many fine and medium roots; moderate sulfur dioxide odor; 2.5 n-value; EC 174 dS/m; SAR 56; neutral (pH 7.2), extremely acid (pH 3.8) after moist incubation; diffuse smooth boundary.
Cg3--26 to 40 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silty clay loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; common fine roots; moderate sulfur dioxide odor; 2.3 n-value; EC 138 dS/m; SAR 52; neutral (pH 7.1), ultra acid (pH 2.9) after moist incubation; diffuse smooth boundary.
Cg4--40 to 65 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; moderate sulfur dioxide odor; neutral, extremely acid after moist incubation.
TYPE LOCATION: Northampton County, Virginia; approximately 2.8 miles north northeast of the junction of Highways VA-624 and VA-600 on Mockhorn Island.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the A and C horizon is greater than 60 inches. Reaction ranges from slightly acid through mildly alkaline. After moist incubation, reaction is ultra acid (pH 3.5) with jarosite mottle formation within a depth of 20 inches. Salt is more than 2 percent within the upper 40 inches. Electrical conductivity is greater than 16 mmhos/cm. Mucky, mucky peat, or peat surface horizons 1 to 15 inches thick are in some pedons.
The O horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR through 5BG or is neutral, value of 2 through 5, and chroma of 0 through 2. It is fine sandy loam, loam, or silt loam.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR through 5BG or is neutral, value of 2 through 7, and chroma of 0 through 2. The upper part is loam, silt loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam. The lower part, below 40 inches, is variable and ranges from coarse sand through silty clay loam.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no other known series in this family. Similar soils in closely related families are the Axis, Bohicket, and Capers series. Axis soils are coarse-loamy. Bohicket and Capers soils are fine.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Chincoteague soils are in salt marshes. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 25 to 60 inches, and mean annual temperature ranges from 57 to 65 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Assateague, Bojac, Carteret, Dragston, Fisherman, Magotha, Molena, Munden, and Nimmo soils. Assateague, Bojac, Dragston, Fisherman, Magotha, Molena, Munden, and Nimmo soils are better drained and occupy higher landscape positions. Carteret soils are sandier and occupy higher landscape positions in the marsh.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; very slow runoff; moderate to moderately slow permeability. These soils are continuously saturated with salt water.
USE AND VEGETATION: Chincoteague soils provide habitat for wetland wildlife and spawning grounds for shell and fin-fish species. They are used for recreation. The natural plant community consists of smooth cordgrass, Bigelow glasswort, Europe swampfire, Virginia swampfire, marshhay cordgrass, and coastal or seashore saltgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Virginia, and possibly North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This series is extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Northampton County, Virginia, 1985.
REMARKS: In the past, Chincoteague soils were included in the miscellaneous land class Tidal Marsh. Darmondy and Foss (Darmondy, R.G. and J. E. Foss. Tidal marsh soils of Maryland. Md. Agric. Exp. Sta., Univ. of Md. College Park, Md. Mp 930, Oct. 1978) also proposed the name Chincoteague for these soils. These soils classify as members of the fine-silty, mixed, nonacid, thermic family of Sulfidic Almyraquents according to the Committee VIII report on Soils of Coastal Wetlands, their Classification, and Correlation. These soils contain sufficient salt to classify in a Salic subgroup of Sulfaquents based on the definition of a salic horizon in Soil Taxonomy if such a subgroup existed. The presence of sulfidic material and a salic horizon are the main diagnostic features of the soils.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University soil survey lab data support a fine-silty, mixed, nonacid, thermic Typic Sulfaquents placement for the typical and 11 other profiles. Data for the official site location and other pedons are published in Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 85-8, 1985, "Soil Classifications and Floral Relationships of Seaside Salt Marsh Soils in Accomac and Northampton Counties, Virginia" by W. J. Edmonds, et al.