LOCATION MISPILLION              DE+MD NJ

Established Series
CDP/Rev. JAK-ATD
03/2025

MISPILLION SERIES

MLRA(s)--149A, 153C, 153D
Depth Class--Very deep
Drainage Class--Very poorly drained
Flooding--Very frequent, very brief
Parent Material--Herbaceous organic deposits over loamy estuarine deposits
Slopes--0 to 1 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature--13 degrees C (56 degrees F)
Mean Annual Precipitation--1144 millimeters (45 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, euic, mesic Terric Sulfihemists

TYPICAL PEDON: Mispillion mucky peat, on a smooth 0 percent slope, in an estuarine tidal salt marsh. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)

Oese1--0 to 25 centimeters (0 to 10 inches); very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) mucky peat; fiber content 40 percent by volume after rubbing; von Post value H4; many fine, medium, and coarse roots; neutral (pH 6.8), ultra acid (pH 2.4) oxidized pH; clear smooth boundary.

Oese2--25 to 61 centimeters; black (N 2/) mucky peat; fiber content 25 percent by volume after rubbing; von Post value H6; common fine, medium and coarse roots; neutral (pH 6.8), ultra acid (pH 2.9) oxidized pH; gradual smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oese horizon is 10 to 61 centimeters thick.)

Oase--61 to 102 centimeters; black (10YR 2/1) and very dark brown (10YR 2/2) muck; fiber content 10 percent by volume after rubbing; von Post value H8; few medium and coarse roots throughout; neutral (pH 7.3), ultra acid (pH 2.9) oxidized pH; abrupt smooth boundary. (thickness range is 20 to 71 centimeters.)

Cseg1--102 to 137 centimeters; black (5Y 2.5/1) mucky silt loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; very fluid; few coarse roots; few white uncoated sand grains and few shell fragments; neutral (pH 7.0), ultra acid (pH 2.4) oxidized pH; clear smooth boundary.

Cseg2--137 to 175 centimeters; dark gray (N 4/) silty clay loam; massive; moderately sticky, slightly plastic; very fluid; neutral (pH 7.0), ultra acid (pH 2.4) oxidized pH; gradual smooth boundary.

Cseg3--175 to 203 centimeters; dark gray (5Y 4/1) and gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam with thin lenses of loam; massive; slightly sticky, nonplastic; moderately fluid; few shell fragments; few very thin, less than 1.2 centimeters thick lenses of loamy fine sand; neutral (pH 7.0), ultra acid (pH 2.4) oxidized pH.

TYPE LOCATION:
Sussex County, Delaware; near the town of Lewes; approximately 250 meters west of the intersection of London Circle South and Kensington Road, 152 meters south of the end of London Circle South, and 305 meters northwest of the intersection of Eleventh Street and Road 273A, and approximately 61 meters from the upland edge. USGS Topographic Quadrangle--Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Latitude--38.6961111
Longitude-- -75.1036111
Datum--WGS84
Coordinate source--unknown

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock--Greater than 200 centimeters
Thickness of the Organic Soil Layers--40 to 130 centimeters
Soil Moisture Regime--Peraquic (tidally flooded twice daily)
Rock Fragments--0 to 5 percent, by volume in the mineral layers, mostly shell fragments
Electrical Conductivity--Greater than 8 dS/m (5.6 ppt) throughout
Depth to hypersulfidic materials-- 0 to 100 centimeters
Reaction--Slightly acid to mildly alkaline (pH 6.1 to 8.4)
Oxidized reaction--Ultra acid to very strongly acid (pH <3.5 to 5.0)
Organic carbon stock 0 to 100 centimeters--36 to 45 kg m-2
Organic carbon stock 0 to 200 centimeters--60 to 76 kg m-2
Fluidity--Very fluid to moderately fluid
Other characteristics--Some pedons have thin lenses of silt, silt loam, or very fine sand throughout the organic layers

Oise horizon (where present):
Hue--10YR to 5Y or Neutral
Value--2 to 4
Chroma--0 to 3
Texture--peat
Von Post--H2 to H3
Organic carbon density--20 to 54 kg m-3

Oese horizon:
Hue--7.5YR to 5Y or Neutral
Value--2 to 4
Chroma--0 to 3
Texture--mucky peat
Von Post--H4 to H6
Organic carbon density--24 to 122 kg m-3
Other characteristics--some pedons have thin layers of fibric material

Oase horizon (where present):
Hue--7.5YR to 5Y
Value--2 to 5
Chroma--1 to 3
Texture--muck
Von Post--H7 to H9
Organic carbon density--19 to 66 kg m-3
Other characteristics--some pedons have thin layers of fibric material

Cseg horizon:
Hue--7.5YR to 5GY or Neutral
Value--2 to 6
Chroma--0 to 2
Texture--silt loam, silty clay loam, or loam and their mucky analogs
Organic carbon density--12 to 46 kg m-3
Other characteristics--organic matter content is 0 to 15 percent and the horizon may have thin lenses of organic material or sand from one to several centimeters thick

COMPETING SERIES:
These are the Honga and Westbrook soils.
Honga soils--underlying mineral soil material has a relict argillic horizon and is typically nonfluid, on similar landforms
Westbrook soils--underlying mineral soil material is typically nonfluid, on similar landforms of glaciated northeast landscapes in LRR R and S

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material--Herbaceous organic deposits over loamy estuarine deposits
Landscape--Coastal plain
Landform--Tidal marsh
Slope range--0 to 1 percent
Elevation--0 to 1 meter
Mean annual air temperature--11 to 15 degrees C (52 to 59 degrees F)
Mean annual precipitation--1052 to 1240 millimeters (41 to 49 inches)
Frost free period--190 to 260 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
These are the Appoquinimink, Bestpitch, Boxiron, Honga, Purnell, Sunken, Tangier, and Transquaking soils.
Appoquinimink soils--have buried organic layers 40 centimeters or more thick (thapto-histic) overlain by fine-silty mineral material, on similar landforms
Bestpitch soils--have underlying mineral materials with a clay content of 35 percent or greater (clayey) and a fluidity class of fluid to very fluid, on similar landforms
Boxiron soils--have an organic surface 20 to less than 40 centimeters thick (histic epipedon), on similar landforms
Purnell soils--have an organic surface 20 to less than 40 centimeters thick (histic epipedon) and sandy underlying mineral materials, on similar landforms
Sunken soils--have less than 20 centimeters of organic soil materials and a relict argillic horizon, on slightly higher submerging upland landforms
Tangier soils--have less than 20 centimeters of organic soil materials and a relict argillic horizon, on submerging upland landforms
Transquaking soils--have greater than 130 centimeters of organic soil materials, on similar landforms

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class--Very poorly drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity--High to very high in the organic horizons and moderately low to moderately high in the underlying mineral horizons
Soil Moisture Regime--Peraquic
Flooding--Very frequent, for very brief durations (twice daily by tides)

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major uses--Mispillion soils are mainly used for their important ecological and environmental benefits as tidal salt marsh ecosystems that provide essential plant and animal habitat, water quality benefits, and coastal protection from storms and sea level rise.
Natural vegetation--Typically saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens), saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), and salt wort (Salicornia sp.)

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
General area--Tidal salt marshes of the mid-Atlantic coastal plain within the states of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey
Land Resource Regions (LRR)-- S - Northern Atlantic Slope Diversified Farming Region and T - Atlantic and Gulf Coast Lowland Forest and Crop Region
MLRA(s)--149A, 153C, 153D
Extent--Moderate

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Special Projects

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Worcester County, Maryland, 1995.

REMARKS:
Mispillion soils were formerly mapped as Tidal Marsh miscellaneous areas. These soils are continuously saturated and flooded by brackish or saline tidal waters twice daily and by storm surge, except in areas protected by dikes and tide gates. In protected areas, the soils are commonly flooded under several inches of brackish water. Oxidized pH analysis indicates these soils have sulfidic materials (pH of 4.0 or less after 16 weeks of moist incubation), causing them to typically become ultra acid to extremely acid when drained. Historically, large areas of these soils were ditched for mosquito control, which has led to marsh degradation in some areas.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon (Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Thirteenth Edition):
Aquic conditions--the zone from 0 to 203 centimeters is continuously saturated (endosaturation)
Fluidity--the zone from 102 to 203 centimeters is moderately fluid to very fluid (has n value greater than 0.7, typically greater than 1.0)
Hypersulfidic materials--the zone from 0 to 203 centimeters (oxidized pH of 4.0 or less after 16 weeks of moist incubation)
Hemic soil materials--the layer between 0 and 61 centimeters has a fiber content after rubbing of one-third, by volume
Sapric soil materials--the layer from 61 to 102 centimeters has a fiber content after rubbing less than one-sixth, by volume

ADDITIONAL DATA:
Database information:
NASIS site and pedon ID for typical pedon--2007DE005019
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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.