LOCATION KILL DEVIL              VA+NC

Established Series
JDK-RBT
10/2026

KILL DEVIL SERIES

MLRA(s)--153B
Depth class--Very deep
Drainage class--Subaqueous
Water depth range--1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet)
Parent material--Fine-loamy estuarine deposits
Geomorphic location--Fluviomarine bottoms, mainland coves, and low-energy lagoon bottoms
Slope range--0 to 1 percent
Mean annual air temperature--17 degrees C (63 degrees F)
Mean annual water temperature--15 degrees C (59 degrees F)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, active, nonacid, thermic Grossic Hydrowassents

TYPICAL PEDON: Kill Devil silt loam in a fluviomarine bottom under 2.6 meters of brackish water (colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated; electrical conductivity is 1:5 by volume solution mixture unless otherwise stated).

Aseg--0 to 17 centimeters; 80 percent greenish black (10Y 2.5/1) and 20 percent very dark greenish gray (10Y 3/1) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; very fluid; 5 percent shell fragments; color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; moderate effervescent with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; 2 percent herbaceous plant fibers; nonsaline (0.8 dS/m); neutral (pH 7.1), neutral (pH 7.0) oxidized pH; clear boundary (9 to 17 centimeters thick).

Cseg1--17 to 64 centimeters; dark greenish gray (10Y 4/1) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; very fluid; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; moderate effervescent with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; 2 percent herbaceous plant fibers; nonsaline (0.4 dS/m); slightly alkaline (pH 7.5), moderately acid (pH 5.9) oxidized pH; gradual boundary.

Cseg2--64 to 207 centimeters; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, moderately plastic; moderately fluid; 2 percent shell fragments; no color change with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide; moderate effervescent with 30 percent hydrogen peroxide; nonsaline (0.3 dS/m); moderately alkaline (pH 7.9), neutral (pH 7.3) oxidized pH.

TYPE LOCATION: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia; North Landing River; approximately 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) south of the intersection of Munden Point Road and Lettie Street, and approximately 2.2 kilometers (1.3 miles) west-southwest of the intersection of Princess Anne Road and Pocohontas Club Road; USGS topographic quadrangle: Creeds.

Latitude--36.5648200
Longitude-- -76.0289640
Datum--WGS84
Coordinate source--from hand-held GPS

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock--Greater than 200 centimeters
Manner of failure / fluidity class--Slightly fluid to very fluid
Shell fragments--0 to 30 percent, by volume
Sulfurous odor--None to strong throughout
Soil reaction--Neutral to moderately alkaline throughout (pH 6.6 to 8.4)
Oxidized reaction--Ultra acid to moderately alkaline throughout (pH < 3.5 to 8.4)
Depth to hypersulfidic / sulfidic materials--Greater than 100 centimeters
Electrical Conductivity (1:5 soil to water solution)--0.3 to 2.6 dS/m throughout
Salinity Class--Nonsaline to very slightly saline
Total soil organic carbon stock 0 to 100 centimeters--7 to 20 kg m-2
Total soil organic carbon stock 0 to 200 centimeters--13 to 42 kg m-2

Aseg or ACseg horizon:
Hue--2.5Y to 10Y, or Neutral
Value--2.5 or 3
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--Silt loam or mucky silt loam
Organic carbon density--1.9 to 37 kg m-3

Cseg horizons:
Hue--2.5Y to 5G, or Neutral
Value--2.5 to 4
Chroma--0 or 1
Texture--Typically silt loam, silty clay loam, loam, clay loam, or their shelly or very shelly analogs
Organic carbon density--1.9 to 37 kg m-3
Other remarks--Horizon may contain lenses of sand, loamy sand, or fine sandy loam that do not affect the taxonomic particle-size class.

COMPETING SERIES:
These are the Lost and Prices Creek soils.
Lost soils--are on submerged tidal marshes, typically have O horizons, and have hypersulfidic soil materials.
Prices Creek soils--are in estuaries that have a water salinity between 15 and 30 parts per thousand, often contain no shell fragments, and are found within estuarine tidal creek landforms.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape--Barrier-island lagoons and southeast coastal plain estuaries
Landform--Fluviomarine bottoms, mainland coves, and low-energy lagoon bottoms
Parent material--Fine-loamy estuarine deposits
Slope--0 to 1 percent
Water depth range--1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet) below mean sea level
Water salinity range--0.5 to 5 parts per thousand

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the Kitty Hawk, Pine Island, Princess Anne, Lost, Trinity Harbor, and Whalehead soils.
Kitty Hawk soils--are on washover fans, formed in sandy lagoonal deposits, and contain sulfidic materials.
Pine Island soils--are on relict flood-tidal deltas and formed in sandy lagoonal deposits.
Princess Anne soils--are in estuarine tidal streams and contain sulfidic materials.
Trinity Harbor soils--are in higher energy areas of the landform and formed in coarse-loamy lagoonal deposits.
Whalehead soils--are on submerged wave-cut platforms and have a lithologic discontinuity.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class--Subaqueous
Saturated hydraulic conductivity--Moderately high to high
Soil moisture regime--Peraquic
Soil is continuously inundated by brackish water. The water level is primarily driven by wind tides.

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses--The area is used for recreational fishing, swimming, hunting, and boating. Uses also include commercial fishing and crabbing.
Typical vegetation--Vegetation is virtually absent as Kill Devils soils occur in deeper water where sunlight is scarce. Where water depths are shallower, Eurasian milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) may be present.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General area--Coastal plain estuaries in North Carolina and Virgina
Land Resource Regions--T - Atlantic and Gulf Coast Lowland Forest and Crop Region
MLRA(s)--153B
Extent--Small

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Special Projects Region

SERIES ESTABLISHED: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, 2026

REMARKS:
The series is named after the town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, which was the location of the Wright Brothers' first controlled flight of the Wright Flyer. Kill Devil soils were previously mapped as water in North Carolina and Virginia soil surveys.

Textures for the lower Cseg horizons can be variable, but are most often silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam; their color is typically 10Y or greener but can be as yellow as 2.5Y. Pedons in lagoon bottoms may have a thin surface mantle of sand. Some Kill Devil pedons have buried and preserved pre-Holocene genetic horizons (i.e., lithologic discontinuity) as shallow as 30 to 50 centimeters from the soil surface.

Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are (Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Thirteenth Edition, 2022):
Ochric epipedon--The zone from 0 to 17 centimeters.
Fluidity--The zone from 0 to 207 centimeters has a fluidity class of moderately or very fluid.
Peraquic feature--Zero or positive soil water potential at the soil surface (permanently submerged).

NASIS User Site and Pedon ID: S2024VA810001
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.