LOCATION PENNSUCO FLEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, carbonatic, hyperthermic Typic Fluvaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Pennsuco silty clay loam on formerly cultivated land recently cleared of second growth. (Colors are for moist soil.)
Ap--0 to 5 inches; grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) silty clay loam; moderate fine to coarse granular structure; friable; few fine and medium roots; few snail shells; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)
Bg1--5 to 11 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) silt loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; firm to friable; few fine and medium roots; few fine distinct light olive brown (2.5Y 5/6) accumulations; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary.
Bg2--11 to 21 inches; olive gray (5Y 5/2) silt loam; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; firm; few fine roots; common vertical black (10YR 2/1) streaks in old root channels; common discontinuous lenses of very dark gray (5Y 3/1) and dark olive gray (5Y 3/2) material; common fine white (10YR 8/1) shell fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; clear wavy boundary.
Bg3--21 to 28 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/4) silt; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common coarse vertical root channels 1 to 2 inches apart; few medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) accumulations and many medium and coarse light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) depletions; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
Bg4--28 to 38 inches; 50 percent dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and 50 percent very pale brown (10YR 7/3) silt loam; weak medium to coarse subangular blocky structure; friable; common medium black (10YR 2/1) vertical roots; many thin discontinuous lenses of grayish brown (10YR 5/2) material; common fine white (10YR 8/1) shell fragments; strongly effervescent; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary. (Total thickness of the Bg horizons range from 10 to 30 inches)
2C1--38 to 41 inches; black (10YR 2/1) fine sand; massive; very friable; many medium roots; moderately alkaline; gradual wavy boundary.
2C2--41 to 53 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) fine sand; massive; very friable; common medium roots; common clean sand grains; moderately alkaline; abrupt wavy boundary. (Total thickness of 2C horizon ranges from 0 to 18 inches)
2Cr--53 to 80 inches; very pale brown (10YR 7/3) soft, porous limestone with a thin root mat on the surface.
TYPE LOCATION: Broward County, Florida; approximately 0.5 mile east of U.S. Highway 1, about 0.5 mile north of Dania Cut-Off Canal, and about 100 feet south of paved road; NW1/4, SW1/4, SW1/4, Sec. 26, T. 50 S., R. 42 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Soil thickness and depth to limestone ranges from 40 to 60 inches. Reaction is moderately alkaline, in the A and B horizons and neutral to moderately alkaline in the 2C horizon. Thin laminations or varving are clearly evident in many pedons.
The Oa horizon, where present, is a thin layer of organic material with hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is muck.
The A or Ap horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 to 6, and chroma of 2 or less. Redoximorphic features in shades of brown, yellow, or gray range from none to common. Texture is silt loam or silty clay loam.
The Bg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 7, and chroma of 1 to 4; or there is no dominant color and it is multicolored in shades of brown, yellow, and gray. Redoximorphic features in shades of brown, yellow, or gray range from few to many. Texture is silt or silt loam.
The C horizon, where present, has the same range of colors as the Bg horizon. Masses or thin discontinuous lenses of muck or mucky silt loam range from none to common. Texture is silt loam or silt.
The 2C horizon, where present, has hue of 10YR, value of 2 to 5, and chroma of 2 or less. Texture is sand, fine sand, or loamy sand.
The Cr horizon is composed of soft weathered limestone. Solution holes range from few to common throughout and extend 1 to 2 feet into the limestone. They are filled with sand, silt loam, or soft carbonatic material.
COMPETING SERIES: The Perrine series is in the same family. The poorly drained Perrine soils are on similar positions is moderately deep to limestone.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Pennsuco soils are in tidal areas and broad adjacent lowlands in the Lower Coastal Plain of Florida. Slopes are less than 1 percent. They formed in deposits of mostly silt-size sediments that are 90 to 95 percent calcium carbonate and are on the Miami Oolite Formation of Pleistocene Age. Elevation is 1 to 4 feet above sea level. The climate is humid subtropical. The average annual precipitation ranges from 55 to 65 inches and the average annual temperature ranges from 73 to 75 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the competing Perrine series and the Dade series. The well drained Dade soils are on adjacent higher positions, are sandy throughout, have a weekly expressed spodic horizon, and are moderately deep to limestone.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly and very poorly drained; moderate to moderately slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Tidal areas are dominated by mangrove trees, giant leather fern, bushy sea-oxeye, glasswort, and salt tolerant grasses. Large areas inland from the coastal swamps have been drained and used for potatoes, beans, corn, tomatoes, other truck crops and ornamental nursery stock. Vegetation in undrained areas consists of sawgrass, reeds, sedges, grasses, and scattered cabbage palm.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Broward County, east of U.S. Highway 1 from Ft. Lauderdale south, east, and southeast Dade County. The series is probably limited to Dade, Broward, and Indian River Counties, Florida.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama.
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Broward County, Florida, 1981.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features in this pedon:
Ochric epipedon the zone from 0 to 5 inches (Ap horizon).
Cambic horizon the zone from 5 to 38 inches (Bg1, Bg2, Bg3, and Bg4 horizons)
Paralithic contact 53 inches to soft limestone bedrock (2Cr horizon).
The water table is within 10 inches of the surface for 4 to 6 months. Tidal areas are flooded by daily or seasonal tides.
Pennsuco soils have structure but the organic carbon content is too high for a cambic horizon. Moist color would put this soil in an Aeric family, but the soil is too wet to be so classified.