LOCATION HERRING CREEK           DE

Established Series
PSK
05/2023

HERRING CREEK SERIES

MLRA(s): , 153D
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Subaqueous (permanently submersed)
Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low or low
Landscape: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Estuaries
Landform: Estuarine tidal creeks
Parent Material: Silty estuarine sediments underlain by organic deposits
Slope: 0 to 1 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 56 degrees F. (13 degrees C.)
Mean Annual Water Temperature: 57 degrees F. (14 degrees C.)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, subactive, nonacid, mesic Thapto-histic Sulfiwassents

TYPICAL PEDON: Herring Creek mucky silt loam on a nearly level 0.25 percent slope in a brackish tidal creek under 1 meter of permanent estuarine water. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise indicated.)

Ase--0 to 4 inches (0 to 10 centimeters); black (5Y 2.5/1) mucky silt loam; massive; very fluid; 5 percent very dark brown (10YR 2/2) herbaceous fibers; moderately alkaline; strongly saline; sulphurous odor; 2 percent herbaceous fibers abrupt boundary. (4 to 20 inches (10 to 50 centimeters) thick)

Cseg1--4 to 21 inches (10 to 53 centimeters); greenish black (10Y 2.5/1) silt loam; massive; very fluid; moderately alkaline; strongly saline; sulphurous odor; 2 percent herbaceous fibers; 1 percent shells fragments, abrupt boundary.

Oeseb--21 to 35 inches (53 to 89 centimeters); very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mucky peat; sulphurous odor; 25 percent herbaceous fibers, moderately saline; moderately alkaline; clear boundary. (8 to 16 inches (20 to 40 centimeters) thick)

Csegb--35 to 70 inches (89 to 178 centimeters); greenish black (5GY 2.5/1) silty clay loam; moderately fluid; 10 percent brown 7.5YR4/4 wood fragments; slightly alkaline; moderately saline; sulphurous odor; 2 percent shell fragments; clear smooth boundary.

2Cgb--70 to 80 inches (178 to 205 centimeters); olive gray (5Y 4/2) loam; massive; moderately fluid; 10 percent brown 7.5YR4/4 wood fragments; slightly alkaline; slightly saline; (0 to 24 inches (0 to 60 centimeters) thick)

TYPE LOCATION: Sussex County, Delaware; approximately 600 feet northeast of Green Landing in Herring Creek; latitude 38 degrees, 39 minutes, 24 seconds N and longitude 75degrees, 09 minutes, 37 seconds W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 80 inches (200 centimeters)
Depth to Lithologic Discontinuity: Less than 80 inches (200 centimeters)
Shell Fragments: 0 to 5 percent, by volume
Soil Reaction: Slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline throughout the profile;
Oxidized Reaction: Ultra acid
Electrical Conductivity: Greater than 16 mmhos/cm in the upper solum and 6 to 16 mmhos/cm in the substratum
Salinity Class: Slightly to strongly saline
Other Features: Depth to the buried organic horizon is 8 to 40 inches (20 to 100 centimeters)

Range of Individual Horizons:
Ase horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 10Y, value of 2.5 to 4, and chroma of 0 or 2
Texture-silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam or their mucky analogs

Cseg horizon:
Color--hue of 5Y to 10B, value of 2.5 to 4, and chroma of 0 or 2,
Texture-- silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam or their mucky analogs

Oeseb, Oaseb horizon:
Color--hue if 10YR to 5Y, value of 2.5 to 3, and chroma of 0 or 2,
Texture--muck or mucky peat

2Cgb horizon:
Color--hue of 2.5Y to 10B, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 0 or 2,
Texture-- sandy loam, loam, silty clay, silty clay loam or silt loam

COMPETING SERIES: The Southpoint series is the only competing soil. Southpoint soils are strongly saline throughout the profile and do not have wood fragments in the solum and substratum. Herring Creek soils have wood fragments in the lower solum and substratum.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Estuaries
Landform: Estuarine tidal Creeks
Parent Material: Silty terrestrial tidal marsh sediments overlying organic deposits
Slope: 0 to 1 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 50 to 57 degrees F. (10 to 14 degrees C.)
Mean Annual Water Temperature: 52 to 58 degrees F. (11 to 14 degrees C.)
Bathymetry: 0 to 3 meters below Mean Sea Level Water Regime: Tidal, 0.25 to 2 meters tidal range

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Broadkill soils--do not have buried organic layers within 40 inches (1 meter) and are not permanently submerged; on adjacent tidal marshes
Mispillion soils--are not permanently submerged; on adjacent tidal marshes
Tingles soils (tentative)--do not have buried organic layers within 40 inches (1 meter)
Transquaking soils--are not permanently submerged and have organic surface layers more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) thick; on adjacent tidal marshes

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Agricultural Drainage Class: Subaqueous (permanently submersed)
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low or low
Permeability (obsolete): Moderately slow or slow

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Most areas are un-vegetated and function as estuarine benthic habitat. Benthic fauna such as tubeworms, clams, juvenile blue crabs, scallops and juvenile finfish use these areas.

Dominant Vegetation: Native vegetation includes rooted algae, eelgrass (Zostera marina) and widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima). Vegetative cover ranges from 0 to 5
percent.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: The Mid-Atlantic coastal estuaries of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and possibly Virginia. This series is of small extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina

SERIES PROPOSED: Sussex County, Delaware, 2012

REMARKS: Herring Creek soils were formerly included with areas of water.

Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 4 inches (0 to 10 centimeters) (Ase horizon)
Peraquic feature--the zone from 0 to 80 inches (0 to 200 centimeters) has positive water potential
Sulfidic feature--the zone from 8 to 20 inches (20 to 50 centimeters) contains sulfidic materials
Thapto-Histic feature--the zone from 21 to 35 inches (53 to 89 centimeters) (Oeseb horizon)
Wood fragments--the zone from 35 to 80 inches (89 to 205 centimeters)
n value--all mineral layers have n value greater then 1

ADDITIONAL DATA:

Data Map Unit ID: 679293
NASIS OSD Site and Pedon ID: 2012DE005001

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.