LOCATION MAR NEGRO               PR

Established Series
SRT/ASR/RBT
10/2021

MAR NEGRO SERIES


MLRA(s): 273
MLRA Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Subaqueous drainage
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to high
Parent Material: Moderately to highly decomposed organic materials
Slope: 0 to 1 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 26 degrees C. (79 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1041 millimeters (41 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic, isohyperthermic Typic Sulfiwassists

TYPICAL PEDON: Mar Negro muck in a tidal water body protected by a mangrove swamp. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated).

Oase1--0 to 8 centimeters (0 to 3 inches); black (10YR 2/1) muck, rubbed; 9 percent fiber after rubbing; structureless massive; H8 von Post; strong sulfurous odor ; moderately alkaline; clear boundary.

Oase2--8 to 30 centimeters (3 to 12 inches); black (10YR 2/1) muck, rubbed; 9 percent fiber after rubbing; structureless massive; H7 von Post; strong sulfurous odor; moderately alkaline; abrupt boundary.

Oese1--30 to 74 centimeters (12 to 29 inches); black (7.5YR 2.5/1) mucky peat, rubbed; 20 percent fiber after rubbing; structureless massive; H5 von Post; strong sulfurous odor; moderately alkaline; clear boundary.

Oese2--74 to 117 centimeters (29 to 46 inches); black (7.5YR 2.5/1) mucky peat, rubbed; 20 percent fiber after rubbing; structureless massive; H5 von Post; moderate sulfurous odor; moderately alkaline; clear boundary.

Oese3--117 to 163 centimeters (46 to 64 inches); black (7.5YR 2.5/1) mucky peat, rubbed; 20 percent fiber after rubbing; structureless massive; H5 von Post; moderate sulfurous odor; moderately alkaline; clear boundary.

2Aseb--163 to 203 centimeters (64 to 80 inches); dusky red (2.5YR 3/2) mucky silt loam; structureless massive; friable; moderately fluid; moderate sulfurous odor; moderately alkaline.

TYPE LOCATION: Salinas municipality, Puerto Rico. Punta Colchones, at Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve property. 1.64 miles southwest from the Jobos Bay Reserve central building at bearing 207.63 degrees. Approximately 1,704 feet northwest at bearing 326.52 degrees of Punta Colchones southernmost shore point. Latitude: 17 degrees 56 minutes 6.70 seconds north, Longitude: 66 degrees 14 minutes 4.00 seconds west WGS 84.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth of organic material: Greater than 130 centimeters (51 inches)
Depth to seasonally high water table: At or above the soil surface throughout the year
Soil Reaction: Moderately alkaline throughout
Sulfurous odor: Moderate to strong throughout and intensity decreases with depth
Fiber content: Unrubbed 5 to 50 percent; rubbed less than 30 percent throughout
Salinity: 32 to 36 ppt

Range of Individual Horizons:

Oase horizon:
Color-hue of 10YR to 5Y or neutral, value of 2.5, and chroma of 1
Texture-dominantly muck but mucky peat or peat materials can occur

Oese horizon:
Color-hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 2.5 or 3, and chroma of 2 or 3
Texture-dominantly mucky peat but peat materials can occur

2Aseb horizon:
Color-similar colors to horizons above with value and chromas of 1
Texture-mucky silt loam or finer

2Cseg horizon (where present):
Similar characteristics as the horizons above with higher color values.

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: Tidal mangrove swamps in and near coastal areas.
Parent Material: Moderately to highly decomposed organic materials
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:
Manglillo soils have thinner organic soil horizons, receive more influence by ocean wave energies, and occur on similar landscape positions.
Mareas soils have thinner organic soil horizons, have clay substratum layers, and occur on similar landscape positions.
San Felipe soils have thinner organic soil horizons, have loamy substratum layers, do not have subaqueous drainage, and occur on similar landscape positions.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class: Subaqueous (permanently submersed)
Flooding frequency and duration: Very frequent for very long duration from tides
Saturated hydraulic conductivity: Moderately high to high

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Water quality, water storage, and wildlife habitat.
Dominant Vegetation: Red mangrove with Black and White mangrove inclusions.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southern semiarid coastal plains of Puerto Rico (MLRA 273). The series is of small extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Salinas Municipality, Puerto Rico; 2021. The name is from Mar Negro lagoon east of Las Mareas community, where it was originally recognized.

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon:
1. Histic epipedon - the zone from 0 to 163 centimeters (0 to 64 inches; Oase and Oese horizons).
2. Sapric soil material - the zone 0 to 8 centimeters (0 to 3 inches) has a fiber content after rubbing that is less than 17 percent.
3. Hemic soil material - the zone from 8 to 163 centimeters (3 to 64 inches) has a fiber content after rubbing of 20 percent.
4. Peraquic feature - (Tidal) Brackish water above the surface for more than 21 hours /day most days and endosaturation ranges from 0 to 203 centimeters (0 to 80 inches).
5. Sulfidic feature - -the zone from 0 to 203 centimeters (80 inches) contains sulfidic soil materials.

These soils were formerly included in tidal swamp miscellaneous land type mapunits.


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.