LOCATION MULLICA            NJ+DE MD
Established Series
HCS/Rev. JEB, JWB
06/2006

MULLICA SERIES


MLRA(s): 149A (Northern Coastal Plain), 153C (Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain), 153D (Northern Tidewater Area)
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to very high
Landscape: Coastal plain
Parent Material: Sandy and loamy siliceous fluviomarine sediments
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature (type location): 13 degrees C. (56 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation (type location): 1143 mm (45 inches)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, acid, mesic Typic Humaquepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Mullica sandy loam, wooded. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Oi--0 to 8 cm (0 to 3 inches); slightly decomposed leaves and twigs.

Ag--8 to 33 cm (3 to 13 inches), black (10YR 2/1) sandy loam; weak medium granular structure; very friable; many roots; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (25 to 36 cm thick)

Eg--33 to 53 cm (13 to 21 inches); gray (10YR 5/1) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; common roots; common medium pores; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (0 to 25 cm thick)

Bg--53 to 79 cm (21 to 31 inches); gray (5Y 6/1) sandy loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; few roots; common medium pores; common medium faint pale olive (5Y 6/3) iron accumulations; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (25 to 76 cm thick)

Cg1--79 to 109 cm (31 to 43 inches); gray (10YR 6/1) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; 20 percent, by volume, rounded quartzose pebbles; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Cg2--109 to 160 cm (43 to 63 inches); grayish brown (10YR 5/2) sand; single grain; loose; very strongly acid.

TYPE LOCATION: Atlantic County, New Jersey; Hamilton Township. South on County Route 559 (Weymouth Road), 1.4 miles from intersection with U.S. Highway 322 West, 0.6 mile on unnamed dirt road to wet spot, 200 feet east of road and 100 feet north of intermittent stream.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Solum Thickness: 51 to 102 cm (20 to 40 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: +15 to 30 cm (+6 to 12 inches), December to May with wide seasonal fluctuation
Rock Fragments: 0 to 15 percent, by volume in the A, E, and B horizons and 0 to 35 percent in the C horizon mostly fine pebbles
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid or very strongly acid, throughout the profile, unless limed

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Oi horizon (if it occurs):
Texture--peat (fibric soil materials) or slightly decomposed woody plant material

Oe or Oa horizons (if they occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2, or are neutral in hue and have value of 4 to 6
Type of organic material--hemic soil materials or sapric soil materials

A, Ag or Ap horizons:
Color--hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 2 or 3, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2 to 3
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, sandy loam, fine sandy loam, or loamy sand with mucky modifiers
Organic Matter Content: 2 to 20 percent

Eg or BEg horizons (if they occur):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral withe value of 4 to 6
Texture--sandy loam or loamy sand

Bg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 7, chroma 1 or 2, or is neutral in with value of 3 to 6
Texture--commonly sandy loam, but some pedons have thin strata of loamy sand or sandy clay loam
Redoximorphic Features--iron depletions in shades of olive, gray, or white and iron accumulations in shades of red, brown, yellow, or olive

BCg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 3 to 6, chroma 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 3 to 6
Texture-sandy loam or loamy sand. Some pedons have thin strata of loam or sandy clay loam
Redoximorphic Features--iron depletions in shades of olive, gray, or white and iron accumulations in shades of red, brown, yellow, or olive

C or Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR or 5Y, value of 3 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 3, or is neutral with value of 3 to 6
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--dominantly sand or loamy sand, loamy fine sand, very fine sandy loam, but thin strata of sandy loam, silt loam or sandy clay loam are common below 40 inches
Redoximorphic Features--iron depletions in shades of olive, gray, or white and iron accumulations in shades of red, brown, yellow, or olive

COMPETING SERIES: None

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal plain, upland, lowland
Landform: Broad flats along streams in low headwater areas, depression, swale, drainageway or in small scattered low-lying areas
Elevation: 1.5 to 38 meters (5 to 125 feet) above mean sea level
Parent Material: Sandy and loamy siliceous fluviomarine sediments
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 10 to 14 degrees C. (50 to 58 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Precipitation: 1016 to 1219 mm (40 to 48 inches)
Frost Free Period: 180 to 220 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Berryland soils--have a sandy particle-size class control section and a spodic horizon on similar landforms
Fallsington soils--poorly drained, have a fine-loamy particle-size control section, and do not have an umbric epipedon, on slightly higher landforms
Hammonton soils--moderately well drained and have an argillic hirizon, on higher landforms
Manahawkin soils--very poorly drained organic soil, on lower-lying landforms
Woodstown soils--moderately well drained, have an argillic horizon and a fine-loamy particle-size control section, on slightly higher positions

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class (Agricultural): Very poorly drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence: Very shallow, 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 inches) and common (present 3 to 6 months)
Flooding Frequency and Duration: None
Ponding Frequency and Duration: None to frequent and none to long
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Permeability obsolete): Moderately high to very high
Permeability: Moderate and moderately rapid in the solum and rapid to moderate in the substrata
Shrink-swell Potential: Low

USE AND VEGETATION:
Mostly woodland. Native vegetation is pin oak, white oak, willow oak, red maple, bay magnolia, sweet gum, black gum, and black birch. When drained, these soils are used for truck crops, blueberries and pasture.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: New Jersey and coastal plain sections of Maryland and Delaware. Large.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Ocean County, New Jersey, 1978

REMARKS: These soils have been correlated in the past as mesic taxadjuncts of Pocomoke series. In addition to being outside the temperature range of the Pocomoke series, Mullica soils do not have argillic horizons; although in some places there are a few thin clay films on peds or bridging between sand grains in the Bg horizons. Many areas have finer textured strata within the solum.

Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Umbric epipedon--the zone from the mineral soil surface to a depth of 33 cm (Ag horizon)
Albic horizon--the zone from 33 to 53 cm (Eg horizon)
Cambic horizon--the zone from a depth of 53 to 79 cm (Bg horizon)
Aquic conditions--the zone from 0 to 200 cm is periodically saturated (endosaturation)

Previous revision: 11/2002-JAK


National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.