LOCATION MORIAH FLEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, siliceous, superactive, thermic Aquic Arenic Hapludalfs
TYPICAL PEDON: Moriah fine sand - on a 1 percent slope of forested low uplands. (Colors are for moist conditions.)
Ap--0 to 8 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) fine sand; weak fine granular structure; very friable; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (6 to 9 inches thick)
E1--8 to 13 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) fine sand with light gray (10 YR 7/1) uncoated sand grains; single grained; loose; common fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of iron accumulation; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
E2--13 to 25 inches; white (10YR 8/2) fine sand; common streaks or pockets of clean sand and common charcoal chips; single grained; loose; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the E horizons ranges from 14 to 28 inches.)
Bt--25 to 50 inches; yellow (10YR 7/6) fine sandy loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; firm; common fine distinct strong brown (7.5YR 5/8), common medium distinct very pale brown (10YR 7/4), and few fine distinct yellowish red (5YR 5/8) masses of iron accumulation; common fine prominent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) and common medium distinct light gray (10YR 7/2) areas of iron depletions; moderately acid; abrupt irregular boundary. (18 to 52 inches thick)
2R--50 inches; fractured, porous limestone bedrock.
TYPE LOCATION: Wakulla County, Florida. Approximately 2,000 feet west of the St. Marks River, about 2.5 miles north of Newport; NE 1/4, SW 1/4, sec. 8, T. 3 S.; R. 2 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Solum thickness and depth to limestone bedrock ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Many pedons have up to 5 percent pebble to boulder-size limestone or chert fragments within the solum. Soil reaction ranges from extremely acid to very strongly acid in the A and E horizons, and from very strongly acid to moderately alkaline in the Bt horizon.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is fine sand or sand.
The E horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 8. White streaks or pockets of clean sand grains are common. Masses of iron accumulation shades of yellow or brown. Texture is fine sand or sand.
The Bt horizon has hue of 10YR to 2.5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 6. Redoximorphic features in shades of gray, brown, yellow, or red range from few to common. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy clay loam.
The Btg horizon, where present, within a depth of 40 inches, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, and chroma of 1 or 2. Redoximorphic features in shades of gray, yellow, red, and brown range from few to many. Texture is sandy loam to clay.
The Cr horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 1 to 4. It is composed of soft, weathered, fractured limestone that can be dug with difficulty with a spade, has very firm to extremely firm rupture resistance with low to high excavation difficulty. It usually contains soft carbonate accumulations along with few to many hard limestone or chert fragments. It is highly irregular and interspersed with solution holes that range from 4 to 12 inches in diameter and filled with sandy loam to sandy clay textured soil material. Depth to limestone is very variable within short distances.
The 2R horizon is composed of hard, unweathered limestone that has slightly rigid to very rigid rupture resistance with very high to extremely excavation difficulty. Some areas contain solution holes filled with Btg and/or Cr material.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known series in the same family.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Moriah soils are on low uplands and on river flood plains. They formed in loamy and sandy marine deposits overlying fractured porous limestone bedrock. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. The average annual temperature ranges from 66 to 70 degrees F., and the average annual rainfall ranges from 50 to 60 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Chaires, Leon, Nutall, Pilgrims, Shadeville, and Tooles soils. The poorly drained Chaires and Leon soils are on slightly higher positions and have spodic horizons. Nutall and Pilgrims soils are moderately deep to limestone bedrock. In, addition, Nutall soils are poorly drained. Tooles soils are poorly drained. The moderately well drained Shadeville soils are on higher positions.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Somewhat poorly drained; rapid permeability in the A and E horizons and moderate to slow permeability in the Bt horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas of Moriah soil is used for planted pines. Native vegetation consists of slash pine, loblolly pine, spruce pine, water oak, laurel oak, Hickory, dogwood, and persimmon. The understory includes pineland threeawn and greenbriar.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: These soils are of moderate extent on the Lower Coastal Plain.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Wakulla County, Florida, 1988.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the surface to a depth of about 25 inches (Ap, E1, E2 horizons).
Argillic horizon - The zone from 25 to 50 inches below the surface (Bt horizon).
The depth to the seasonal high water table ranges between 18 to 36 inches for 2 to 5 months in most years. The porous nature of the limestone bedrock underlying this soil will permit this soil to become saturated by artesian flow in areas adjacent to rivers and streams during periods of high water. In other areas, the water table is perched above and in the Bt horizon for 1 to 3 months.
MLRA: 152A.