LOCATION METEDECONK NJ
Established Series
SYD/RBT
05/2023
METEDECONK SERIES
MLRA(s): 153D
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Subaqueous (permanently submersed)
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to high in the organic material and low to moderately low in the mineral material (if present)
Parent Material: Submerged freshwater organic materials of Holocene age
Slope: 0 to 0.25 percent
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic, mesic Typic Sulfiwassists
TYPICAL PEDON: Metedeconk mucky peat, on a permanently submerged estuarine tidal creek, under 104 centimeters of strongly saline water (Colors are for moist rubbed soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oese1--0 to 26 cm; black (7.5YR 2.5/1) mucky peat; 40 percent unrubbed fibers, 25 percent rubbed; strong sulfurous odor; slightly alkaline; gradual boundary.
Oese2--26 to 60 cm; black (2.5Y 2.5/1) mucky peat; 55 percent unrubbed fibers, 20 percent rubbed; strong sulfurous odor; neutral; clear boundary.
Oase--60 to 82 cm; very dark gray (2.5Y 3/1) muck; 35 percent unrubbed fibers, 15 percent rubbed; strong sulfurous odor; neutral; clear boundary.
Oese3--82 to 175 cm; black (10YR 2/1) mucky peat; 75 percent unrubbed fibers, 30 percent rubbed; strong sulfurous odor; neutral.
TYPE LOCATION: Ocean County, New Jersey; just off the shoreline in the southern branch of Beaver Dam Creek (Barnegat Bay) in the Township of Brick, latitude 40 degrees 3 minutes 34.12 seconds N. longitude 74 degrees 4 minutes 59.99 seconds W., WGS 84, USGS 7.5 minute Point Pleasant quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 200 centimeters
Depth to seasonal high water table: Permanently submersed
Shell Fragments: None
Soil reaction: Slightly acid to moderately alkaline; oxidized reaction: ultra acid
Depth to Lithologic Discontinuity: greater than 150 centimeters
Depth to sulfidic materials: 0 to 50 centimeters (a layer at least 1 centimeter thick with a pH value of 4.0 or less within 15 weeks of incubation)
Electrical Conductivity: Greater than 16 mmhos/cm throughout the profile
Salinity: Greater than 15 ppt throughout the profile
Range of Individual Horizons:
Oese horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10Y or neutral, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2
Texture-mucky peat (rubbed fiber content by volume is 17 to 40 percent)
Plant materials are often identifiable and consist primarily of Atlantic White Cedar wood fragments or former phragmite roots
Sulphurous odor and sulfidic materials are present.
Oase horizon (if present):
Color--hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y, 10Y or N, value of 2, 2.5 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 2 or neutral
Texture-muck (rubbed fiber content by volume is less than 17 percent)
Plant materials may be identifiable and consist primarily of Atlantic White Cedar wood fragments or former phragmite roots
Sulphurous odor and sulfidic materials are present.
2Cse horizon (if present):
Color--hue of 10YR, 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 1
Texture-silt loam, silty clay loam, or sand
Consistence is moderately fluid to nonfluid and slightly sticky to nonsticky
It may contain organic fragments.
Sulphurous odor and sulfidic materials are present.
Some pedons may have thin mantles of marine silts less than 40 cm thick (Ase and Cse horizons) over the preserved freshwater organic mateials.
COMPETING SERIES:
None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain estuaries
Landform: The upper reaches of Estuarine Tidal Creeks
Parent Material: Submerged freshwater influenced organic materials formed at or near sea level when sea level was at a lower elevation
Slope: 0 to 0.25 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 10 to 13.9 degrees C. (50 to 57 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Water Temperature: 11.1 to 14.4 degrees C. (52 to 58 degrees F.)
Water Regime: Tidal, 1.0 to 3.0 feet tidal range
Water Salinity Range: 9 to 22 ppt
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Herring Creek soils (tentative)--fine-silty soils formed in estuarine tidal creeks over buried organic horizons. Herring Creek soils do not have thick organic materials within 40 centimeters of the soil surface and 40 centimeters or more thick.
Southpoint soils (tentative)--fine-silty soils formed in lagoonal sediments, relict marsh sediments, and upland subaerial soils on mainland coves and submerged wave-cut headlands. Southpoint soils do not have thick organic materials within 40 cm of the soil surface.
Truitt (tentative)--fine-silty soils formed in lagoonal sediments over buried organic horizons that formed at or near sea level when sea level was at a lower elevation, on submerged wave-cut headlands or mainland coves. The buried organic materials occur below 1 meter and are greater than 5 cm thick.
Tumagan soils (tentative)-highly decomposed organic soils on mainland coves or submerged wave-cut headlands at or near sea level when it was at a lower elevation. The organic materials consist of the preserved plant remains from former salt marsh areas.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class: Subaqueous drainage and peraquic soil moisture regime
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to high in the organic horizons and low to moderately low in the mineral horizons (if present)
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas are un-vegetated and function as estuarine benthic wildlife habitat is limited. Benthic fauna such as tubeworms, clams, juvenile blue crabs, scallops and juvenile finfish are rare. Native vegetation includes rooted algae, eelgrass (Zostera marina) and widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima). Vegetative cover ranges from 0 to 5 percent.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: New Jersey and possibly Delaware and Maryland.
Extent: Small
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES PROPOSED: Ocean County, New Jersey, 2013
REMARKS:
Soil is permanently submerged with brackish or salt water. The presence of sulfidic material within 50 cm of the soil surface puts these soils at risk for acid sulfate drainage if they are dredged and exposed to the air.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Peraquic feature - Positive soil water potential (permanently submerged) at the soil surface. (Under 185 cm of salt water)
Sulfidic materials - within 50 cm of the soil surface (the Oese1 and Oese2 horizons).
Histosol - organic horizons consisting of hemic materials greater than 40 cm thick within the upper 40 cm of the soil surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA:
NASIS Site and Pedon ID: 2013NJ029106
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.