LOCATION DARE NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, thermic Typic Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Dare muck--drained.(Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oi--0 to 4 inches; slightly decomposed leaves and twigs; many medium and coarse roots and stumps; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 4 inches thick)
Oa1--4 to 16 inches; black (N 2/) broken face and rubbed woody muck; about 5 percent unrubbed fiber, less than 1 percent rubbed; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many medium roots; few coated and clean sand grains; many stumps and logs; many fine to medium granules of charcoal; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oa2--16 to 60 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) broken face and rubbed woody muck; about 15 percent unrubbed fiber, less than 1 percent rubbed; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; organic material has a paste-like or slick feel (colloidal) when wet; few medium roots; fine to medium granules of charcoal; many stumps and logs; extremely acid; gradual smooth boundary.
Oa3--60 to 70 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) broken face and rubbed woody muck; about 20 percent unrubbed fiber; less than 5 percent rubbed; massive; friable; moderately sticky; few fine and medium roots, not destroyed not rubbing; many organic coated medium to fine grains of sand; organic material has a paste-like or slick feel (colloidal); many stumps, logs, and roots; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.
Cg1--70 to 76 inches; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) fine sand; single grain; loose; few fine roots; extremely acid; gradual smooth boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Cg2--76 to 96 inches; dark gray (10YR 4/1) and gray (10YR 5/1) loamy fine sand; massive; slightly sticky; few fine roots; extremely acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Currituck County, North Carolina. 5 miles west of Moyock, in a wooded area on the east side of State Road 1218 and 300 feet north of the Camden-Currituck County line.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the organic deposit ranges from 51 inches to more than 96 inches. The soil is ultra acid or extremely acid in the organic layers, except where the surface has been limed, and extremely acid to moderately acid in the mineral layers.
The organic material is paste-like and has a slick feel when saturated, and is massive when moist. Upon aeration and drainage, the organic material forms weak subangular blocky structure. When this material becomes dry over a short period and does not rewet.
Stumps, logs, and roots from the original vegetation occupy up to 35 percent of the surface and subsurface volume. Content of charcoal ranges from common (2 to 20 percent) in the surface layer to few (0 to 2 percent) in the subsurface horizons.
The surface tier is black (N 2/, 5YR 2/1; 10YR 2/1) or very dark brown (10YR 2/2). Texture is muck or woody muck.
The subsurface tier is centered on dark reddish brown (2.5YR 2/4; 5YR 2/2, 3/2), dusky red (2.5YR 3/2), and very dusky red (2.5YR 2/2), and ranges to very dark brown (10YR 2/2), very dark gray (5YR 3/1), and black (5YR 2/1; 10YR 2/1). Ten inches or more of the subsurface tier is in hue of 5YR to 2.5YR. Texture is muck or woody muck.
The Cg horizon is gray or dark gray or very dark brown to light brownish gray. Texture is loamy sand, fine sand, or sand and may be stratified.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Allemands, Belhaven, Delway, Dorovan, Longshoal, Maurepas, Okeechobee, Pamlico, Ponzer, Pungo, Terra Ceia, and Tomoka series. Allemands, Belhaven, Delway, Pamlico, Ponzer, and Tomoka soils have less than 51 inches of organic material over mineral horizons. In addition Belhaven, Delway, Ponzer, and Tomoka soils have loamy mineral horizons and Allemands soils have a clayey mineral horizon beneath the organic material. Dorovan soils are on flood plains and have organic materials in hues of 10YR and 2.5Y. Longshoal and Maurepas soils are euic. Okeechobee and Pungo soils are hemic in part of the control section. Also, Pungo soils have a clayey mineral horizon beneath the organic material. Terra Ceia and Okeechobee soils are euic and have temperature regimes that are hyperthermic.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Dare soils are on nearly level to level areas of the lower Coastal Plain. They formed under very poorly drained conditions from the remains of swampy vegetation dominated by tupelo, cypress, Atlantic white-cedar, and related non-woody, fiberous hydrophytic plants over sandy marine sediments. The mean annual temperature is about 65 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation is about 51 inches near the type location. The growing season is about 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Belhaven, Dorovan, Pamlico, Ponzer, and Pungo series, these are the Ballahack, Barclay, Bayboro, Cape Fear, Hyde, Pasquotank, Portsmouth, Wasda, and Weeksville series. All of these are mineral soils. Ballahack, Bayboro, Cape Fear, Hyde, Portsmouth, and Weeksville soils have umbric epipedons, and Wasda soils have a histic epipedon. Barclay and Pasquotank soils are better drained and are located higher on the landscape.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; very slow runoff; slow permeability. Except in drained and developed areas, Dare soils are saturated at or near the surface throughout most of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the acreage is undeveloped and support plant communities that reflect past history of treatment. Some areas are vegetated with scattered pond pine (Pinus serotina) and a dense undergrowth of both large and small gallberry (Ilex spp.) and huckleberry (Gaylvssacia spp.), greenbrier (Smilax spp.), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), scattered red maple (Acer rubrum), red bay (Persea borbonia), sweet bay (Magnolia Virginia), and reeds (Arundinaria tecta). Areas with a history or severe burning usually have a smaller population of these species and contain large amounts of broomsedge (Andropogon spp.) and other grasses. These soils also support mixed hardwood forests dominated by water and swamp tupelo (Nyssa spp.), Southern bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyodies (L.) B.S.P.), and other hydrophytic species. Developed areas are used primarily for growing corn, soybeans, small grain, and pasture.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina and Virginia. The series is of moderate extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Currituck County, North Carolina; 1980.
REMARKS: Dare soils would have formerly been classified as Bog soils.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Dolman, J. D. and S. W. Buol. A Study of Organic Soils in the Tidewater Region of North Carolina (Site 6). North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin No. 181. December, 1967. Also, Dolman, J. D. and S. W. Buol. Organic Soils on The Lower Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings. Vol. 32 No. 2. pp. 414-18. 1968.
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation NC0040 DARE 0- 1 60- 70 190-240 45- 55 5- 50SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness NC0040 NONE RARE 0-1.0 APPARENT NOV-MAY 60-60
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- NC0040 0-70 MUCK 0- 0 - 0- 0 20- 95 NC0040 70-80 SR FS LS 0- 0 90-100 2-12 1- 10
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0040 0-70 2.0- 4.4 20-95 0- 0 0.06- 0.2 LOW NC0040 70-80 3.6- 6.0 .5-8. 0- 0 6.0- 20 LOW