LOCATION KEYPORT                 NJ+DE MD

Established Series
Rev. JWB
12/2014

KEYPORT SERIES

MLRA(s): 149A (Northern Coastal Plain), 153C (Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain), 153D (Northern Tidewater Area)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Moderately well drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low or low
Landscape: Coastal plain
Parent Material: Moderately fine textured fluviomarine sediments
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 13 degrees C. (56 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1143 mm (45 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, mixed, semiactive, mesic Aquic Hapludults

TYPICAL PEDON: Keyport silt loam - cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 inches); brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; weak medium and fine granular structure; friable; many fine roots; moderately acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 30 cm thick)

Bt1--25 to 41 cm (10 to 16 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; very weak medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; slightly firm, slightly sticky; many faint clay films on faces of peds; very few coarse roots; strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (15 to 25 cm thick)

Bt2--41 to 66 cm (16 to 26 inches); yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular and subangular blocky; firm; common medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) soft masses of oxidized iron; many prominent clay films on faces of peds; strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (20 to 25 cm thick)

Bt3--66 to 112 cm (26 to 44 inches); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silty clay loam; moderate medium angular and subangular blocky structure; sticky; common medium distinct gray (10YR 5/1) iron depletions; many faint clay films on faces of peds; very strongly acid; gradual smooth boundary. (15 to 51 cm thick)

Cg--112 to 165 cm (44 to 65 inches); dark gray (N 4/ ) silty clay loam; massive; slightly sticky; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) soft masses of oxidized iron; extremely acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Mercer County, New Jersey; 3/4 mile east of Edgebrook and Route 130, Gruber Farm.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: Ranges from 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches).
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 183 cm (72 inches).
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 46 to 107 cm (18 to 42 inches), October to June with wide seasonal fluctuation.
Rock Fragments: Rock fragments are lacking, or essentially so, in the solum.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout the profile, unless limed
Other Features: Depth to coarser materials is typically more than 152 cm (60 inches).

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS
The A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chromas of 2 to 4. In unplowed areas the A horizon is about 10 cm (4 inches) thick and has value of 3 or 4.
Texture--silt loam, loam, or fine sandy loam. Some areas are eroded.

The E horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 2.5Y, value of 5 or 6, chroma of 1 to 4.
Texture--ranges from fine sandy loam to silt loam.

The Bt horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, values of 4 to 7, and chromas of 0 to 8 with 1 and 2 chromas only in the Btg horizon of some pedons.
Texture--ranges from silty clay loam or clay loam to silty clay and clay. Some pedons have thin layers of silt loam. Mean clay content is about 40 percent in the control section.
Redoximorphic features--iron depletions with 2 or lower chroma are in the Bt horizon between 51 and 76 cm (20 and 30 inches) from the soil surface.
Structure--commonly angular or subangular blocky, but prismatic or columnar structure occurs in many pedons and platy structure is found in a few pedons.

The C or Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, values of 2 to 8, and chroma of 0 to 8. High values and chroma are in moderately coarse and coarse textural strata.
Texture--typically silty clay loam but ranges from clay to loamy sand.
Other features--thin, discontinuous layers of ironstone 1 to 3 mm (1/16 to 1/8 inches) thick form in both vertical and horizontal fracture faces in the C horizon of some pedons. Pyrite nodules also occur in some pedons.

COMPETING SERIES:
Cruze soils--have paralithic contact at a depth of 122 to 203 cm (48 to 80 inches)
Flatwoods soils--have bedrock at a depth of 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Grassland (T) soils--have paralithic contact at a depth of 102 to 152 cm (40 to 60 inches)
Halifax soils--have mica flakes in the B and C horizons and have formed in residuum weathered from felsic igneous and metamorphic rocks
Kanuga soils--contain mica flakes, a higher volume of rock fragments, and have formed in old alluvium washed from materials weathered from low or high-grade metamorphic and igneous rocks
Lackstown soils--allow redder colors in the substratum and have formed in residuum from Triassic rock, commonly fine-grained sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, or shale
Latham soils--contain rock fragments of shale or siltstone and have paralithic contact with a depth of 102 cm (40 inches)
Zoar soils--have thinner sola and have formed in slackwater alluvium on the Appalachian Plateau.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal plain
Landform: Broad interstream divides and slight depressions
Elevation: 2 to 36 meters (6 to 118 feet) above mean sea level
Parent Material: Moderately fine textured acid fluviomarine sediments
Slope:0 to 25 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 10 to 14 degrees C. (50 to 58 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 106 to 1219 mm (40 to 48 inches)
Frost Free Period: 180 to 215 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Elkton soils--are poorly drained
Othello soils--are poorly drained
Matawan soils--have less than 35 percent clay in the control section and have sandier texture

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class (Agricultural): Moderately well drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Moderately deep and persistent
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None
Index Surface Runoff: Medium to very high
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately low or low
Permeability (obsolete): Slow or very slow
Shrink-swell Potential: Moderate

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses: Most areas have been cleared for farming or general crops, hay and pasture.
Dominant vegetation:
Where wooded--red, white and black oaks, beech, hickory, red maple, sweetgum, loblolly pine and Virginia pine. In places there are excellent stands of yellow poplar.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Keyport soils are of moderate extent, more than 70,000 acres, in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Published in Soil Survey of Freehold Area, N.J. which included northern Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1913.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 25 cm (Ap horizon)
Argillic horizon--the zone from 25 to 112 cm (Bt1,Bt2,Bt3 horizons)
Aquic conditions--periodic saturation beginning at a depth of 66 cm (26 inches)

Previous revisions: 11/2002-CFE,JEW,MJL

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.