LOCATION MAR CARIBE PR

Established Series
ASR/SRT/RBT
10/2021

MAR CARIBE SERIES

MLRA(s): 273
MLRA Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Moderately deep
Drainage Class: Very poorly drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Very high
Parent Material: Calcareous sandy and loamy mixed marine deposits
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 26 degrees C. (79 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1041 millimeters (41 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, carbonatic, isohyperthermic Typic Sulfaquents

TYPICAL PEDON: Mar Caribe sandy loam--wildlife habitat (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).

Ase--0 to 10 centimeters (0 to 4 inches); 80 percent very dark gray (2.5Y 3/1) and 20 percent pale yellow (2.5Y 8/2) sandy loam; medium and fine roots; 10 percent fine prominent brownish yellow(10YR 6/8), masses of oxidized iron with clear boundaries infused into matrix adjacent to pores; 2 percent shell fragments; moderately alkaline; strong sulfurous odor; clear smooth boundary.

ACse--10 to 23 centimeters (4 to 9 inches); 90 percent very dark gray (2.5Y 3/1) and 10 percent pale yellow (2.5Y 8/2) loam; medium and fine roots; 10 percent shell fragments; moderately alkaline; strong sulfurous odor; clear smooth boundary.

Cseg1--23 to 38 centimeters (9 to 15 inches; 95 percent dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) and 5 percent pale yellow (2.5Y 8/2) loam; medium roots and fine roots; 10 percent shell fragments; moderately alkaline; strong sulfurous odor; clear smooth boundary.

Cseg2--38 to 53 centimeters (15 to 21 inches); 95 percent dark greenish gray (10Y 3/1) and 5 percent pale yellow (2.5Y 8/2) loam; 10 percent shell fragments; moderately alkaline; strong sulfurous odor; abrupt smooth boundary.

Cseg3--53 to 81 centimeters (21 to 32 inches); 95 percent dark greenish gray (10Y 3/1) and 5 percent pale yellow (2.5Y 8/2) shelly sandy loam; 20 percent coral limestone fragments; moderately alkaline; strong sulfurous odor; very abrupt wavy boundary.

R--81 centimeters (32 inches); very pale brown (10YR 8/2) coral limestone (reef).

TYPE LOCATION: Guayama municipality, Puerto Rico. Punta Pozuelo. 1,625 feet southwest from salt flat entrance at the end of last community road at Pozuelo community at bearing 201.31 degrees. Approximately 0.80 miles south-southeast of Club Nautico de Guayama's main building at bearing 169.49 degrees. Can be reached by foot or ATV.
Latitude: 17 degrees 55 minutes 47.40 seconds north, Longitude: 66 degrees 12 minutes 0.00 seconds west WGS 84.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum thickness: 50 to 100 centimeters (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Seasonally High Water Table: 0 to 15 centimeters (0 to 6 inches)
Depth to Redoximorphic features: Concentrations are typically found at the soil surface and consist of oxidized iron masses
Soil Reaction: Slightly alkaline to moderately alkaline
Depth to bedrock: 50 to 100 centimeters
Rock fragments: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, throughout consisting of coral and shell fragments increasing with depth
Salinity: 32 to 36 ppt

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Ase horizon:
Color--hue of 2.5Y, value of 3 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 3
Texture--sand, loamy sand, or sandy loam.

ACse horizon: (sometimes the surface horizon due to coastal erosion).
Color--hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 3
Texture--sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, or loam.

Cseg horizons:
Color--hue of 5Y or 10Y, value of 3 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 2 Texture--sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, or loam and its shelly (shell and coral) analogs.

R horizon: weakly to very strongly cemented or indurated coral limestone bedrock.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no other known series in the same family.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Semiarid coastal plain in southern Puerto Rico (MLRA 273).
Landform: Coastal beaches protected by barrier reef
Parent Material: calcareous sandy and loamy mixed marine deposits
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 22 to 31 degrees C. (71 to 88 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 508 to 1,600 millimeters (20 to 63 inches)

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
El Indio series is similar in the control section composition but sandier and bedrock occurs at deeper (greater than 100 centimeters) depths.
Manglillo soils have thick organic horizons, are very deep (greater than 150 centimeters) to bedrock, and occur in similar landform positions.
Mar Negro soils have thick organic horizons, are very deep (greater than 150 centimeters) to bedrock, have subaqueous drainage and occur on similar but lower landscape positions.
San Felipe soils have thick organic horizons, are very deep (greater than 150 centimeters) to bedrock, and occur on similar landscape positions
Jaucas soils are much deeper to water tables, occur considerably higher on the landscape and are very deep (greater than 150 centimeters) to bedrock.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class: Very poorly drained
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (KSAT): Very high
Flooding frequency and duration: Very frequent for extremely brief duration from tides, subject to flooding by storm surge and hurricanes

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Wildlife habitat
Dominant Vegetation: Black and white mangrove, batis, majaguilla and other halophitic herbaceous plants.

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

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern coastal plains of Puerto Rico. This series is of small extent.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Guayama Municipality, Puerto Rico; 2021. The name is from the Caribbean Sea which is directly to the south of where these soils form on the beach, where it was originally recognized.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
1. Ochric epipedon--0 to 23 centimeters (0 to 9 inches; A and AC horizons).
2. Lithic (moderately deep) contact-81 centimeters (32 inches; R horizon).
3. Peraquic features-Endosaturation ranges from 0 to 203 centimeters (0 to 80 inches).
4. Sulfidic feature-the zone from 0 to 81 centimeters (32 inches) contains sulfidic soil materials.

These soils were formerly included in the coastal beach, Meros sand or miscellaneous land type mapunits.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.