LOCATION MANAHAWKIN NJ+DE MD NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy or sandy-skeletal, siliceous, dysic, mesic Terric Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Manahawkin muck, on a nearly level lowland flat, forested. (When described the soil was wet throughout).
Oa1--0 to 20 cm (0 to 8 inches); black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 10 percent fibers, less than 2 percent rubbed; moderate medium granular structure; mat of many fine roots; identifiable material is primarily herbaceous with a trace of woody fragments; 85 percent organic matter; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary.
Oa2--20 to 51 cm (8 to 20 inches); black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; 5 percent fibers, less than 2 percent rubbed; many fine roots; 95 percent organic matter; 2 percent soft woody fragments which break down when rubbed; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa3--51 to 76 cm (20 to 30 inches); black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck (broken face color was slightly redder and lighter than rubbed color but not a chip different); 15 percent fibers, less than 2 percent rubbed; weak medium granular structure; common fine and medium roots; 95 percent organic matter; 10 percent soft woody fragments up to 1 inch diameter which break down when rubbed; very strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa4--76 to 99 cm (30 to 39 inches); black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck (broken face color is slightly redder and lighter than rubbed color but not a chip different); 10 percent fibers, less than 2 percent rubbed; massive; few roots; 90 percent organic matter; 30 percent woody fragments up to 2 inches in diameter which break down when rubbed; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 16 to 51 inches)
Cg1--99 to 117 cm (39 to 46 inches); gray (10YR 5/1) sand; single grain; loose; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Cg2--117 to 152 cm (46 to 60 inches); gray (10YR 6/1) gravelly sand; single grain, loose; 20 percent fine quartzose pebbles; very strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Ocean County, New Jersey; Lacey Township, 0.6 mile southwest of intersection of Double Trouble and Kewsick Roads, 50 feet southeast of a woods road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the Underlying Material: Greater than 183 cm (72 inches)
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 152 cm (60 inches)
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: +30 to 0 cm (+12 to 0 inches), January to December
Depth to Mineral Horizons: 41 to 130 cm (16 to 51 inches)
Rock Fragments: 0 to 50 percent, by volume in the Cg horizon, mostly fine pebbles
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid or very strongly acid in the surface tier and very strongly acid or strongly acid in the lower tiers and in the mineral substratum
Other Features: Mineral content of organic layers ranges from 5 to 80 percent. Organic layers consist of mostly sapric material. Some pedons have subhorizons or a surface horizon of hemic material up to 25 cm (10 inches) thick. Woody fragments range from 0 to 50 percent, by volume, in the organic layers. These fragments are mostly twigs, branches, or logs ranging in size from 3 mm to 51 cm (1/8 inch to 20 inches) in diameter and completely break down when rubbed or crushed.
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Oa horizon:
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2, or are neutral in hue and have value of 2 or 3. Broken face and rubbed colors are similar, but may differ one or two units in value or chroma.
Texture--typically, muck (sapric material), but include individual layers of mucky peat (hemic material), especially at the soil surface
A/Cg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR through 5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 2
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--sand, loamy sand or silt loam with mucky analogs
Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 7.5YR through 5Y, value of 2 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral in hue with value of 2 to 5
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--coarse sand, sand, fine sand, loamy sand, or loamy fine sand or fine sandy loam with gravelly analogs.
COMPETING SERIES: None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal Plain
Landform: Lake basins, back swamps, floodplains and freshwater channels adjacent to tide water
Elevation: 0.6 to 7.6 meters (2 to 25 feet) above mean sea level
Parent Material: Organic deposits underlain by sandy 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: 160 to 220 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Atsion soils--poorly drained mineral soils that have a spodic horizon and a sandy particle-size control section, on higher landforms
Berryland soils--very poorly drained mineral soils that have a spodic horizon and a sandy particle-size control section, on slightly higher landforms
Elkton soils--very poorly drained mineral soils that have fine-silty particle-size control section, on slightly higher landforms
Fallsington soils--poorly drained mineral soils that have fine-loamy particle-size control section, on slightly higher landforms
Hammonton soils--moderately well drained mineral soils that have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section, on higher landforms
Lakehurst soils--moderately well drained mineral soils that have a thin spodic horizon and a sandy particle-size control section, on higher landforms
Pocomoke soils--very poorly drained mineral soils that have coarse-loamy particle-size control section, on slightly higher landforms
Woodstown soils--moderately well drained mineral soils that have a fine-loamy particle-size control section, on higher landforms
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 permanent (present continuously)
Flooding Frequency and Duration: Frequent and very brief to long
Ponding Frequency and Duration: Occasional to frequent, and brief to long
Index Surface Runoff: Negligible
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to high in the organic layers and high in the mineral layers
Permeability (obsolete): Moderately slow to rapid in the organic layers and moderately rapid in the mineral layers
Shrink-swell Potential: Low
USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Wetland wildlife habitat, and woodland
Dominant Vegetation: Atlantic white cedar, bald cypress, pitch pine, red maple, blackgum, sweetgum, swamp chestnut oak, water oak, smooth alder, northern white cedar, sweet bay (swamp magnolia). The understory is high-bush blueberry, sweet pepperbush, leather leaf, gallberry, arrowwood, green briar, American holly, ferns, sedges, grasses and mosses. Some areas are cultivated to cranberries and blueberries
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT:
Distribution: The coastal plain of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and possibly Pennsylvania.
Extent: Large--more than 120,000 acres.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Ocean County, New Jersey, 1976
REMARKS: Manahawkin soils were previously mapped as miscellaneous land types, named "Muck", "Muck shallow," or "Fresh water marsh." The soils are classified in the dysic reaction class because pH in water dominantly ranges from 4.5 to 5.0.
Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Sapric soil materials--the zone from 0 to 99 cm has a fiber content after rubbing that is less than one-sixth of the soil volume.
Aquic conditions--the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 200 cm is continuously saturated (endosaturation).