LOCATION PONZER NC+GA SCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic, thermic Terric Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Ponzer muck--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise stated.)
Oap--0 to 5 inches; black (N 2/) broken face and rubbed muck; less than 1 percent fibers unrubbed and rubbed; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; common fine roots; common very fine grains of clean sand; about 35 percent mineral content; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oa1--5 to 9 inches; black (N 2/) broken face and rubbed muck; less than 1 percent fibers unrubbed and rubbed; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; common very fine grains of clean sand; about 35 percent mineral content; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.
Oa2--9 to 20 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken face, (N 2/) rubbed muck; about 5 percent fibers less than 1 percent rubbed; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; common very fine grains of clean sand; about 30 percent mineral content; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.
Oa3--20 to 24 inches; black (N 2/) broken face and rubbed muck; about 5 percent fibers, less than 1 percent rubbed; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; about 55 percent mineral content; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (The combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 16 to 48 inches)
Cg1--24 to 31 inches; dark gray (5Y 4/1) mucky silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; few fine and medium roots; about 55 percent mineral content; very friable; few fine and medium roots; extremely acid; clear irregular boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Cg2--31 to 52 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; slightly sticky, slightly plastic; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary. (10 to 24 inches thick)
Cg3--52 to 61 inches; gray (5Y 5/1) silty clay; massive; moderately sticky, moderately plastic; common distinct strong brown and reddish brown masses of oxidized iron; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.
Cg4--61 to 72 inches; greenish gray (5BG 5/1) silty clay; massive; moderately sticky, moderately plastic; moderately acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Hyde County, North Carolina; 1 3/4 miles northeast of Ponzer; 200 feet south of intersection of Evans road and Fred Gall road in pasture.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the organic materials commonly is 16 to 30 inches but ranges to 51 inches. The organic materials are ultra acid to extremely acid except where surface layers have been limed. The underlying mineral horizons are extremely acid through mildly alkaline. Logs, stumps, and fragments of wood occupy 0 to 20 percent of the organic layers. Particles of charcoal and pockets of ash are in some pedons. Flakes of mica are few to common in the mineral horizons of some pedons.
The Oa1 or Oap horizons have hue of 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2.5 or 3. The lower tiers have hue of 7.5YR, 10YR, or 2.5Y value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 2.5 to 4. Fiber content of the organic tiers is 2 to 30 percent unrubbed and less than 10 percent after rubbing. The organic layers are typically massive under natural wet conditions. Upon drainage and cultivation a granular or blocky structure develops in all or part of the organic layers depending upon the nature and depth of the organic material as well as duration of drainage. Some pedons have thin mucky loam A horizons that are less than 15 inches thick underlying the Oa horizons. Color is similar to the Oa horizons.
The Ag horizon, where present, has hue of 7.5YR to 5Y, value of 2 to 4 and chroma of 1 or 2. It is fine sandy loam, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, sandy clay loam or clay loam.
The Cg horizon has hue of 7.5YR to 5G, value of 4 to 7 and chroma of 1 or 2 or it is neutral with value of 4 to 7. Texture is variable but it is loamy in the control section and may contain a mucky texture modifier.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belhaven and Scuppernong series of the same family and the Croatan series in a closely related family. Belhaven and Scuppernong soils have a slick feel and paste-like organic layers in hues of 5YR and 2.5YR and in addition Scuppernong soils have mineral layers in the control section that are silty. Croatan soils have siliceous underlying mineral material.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Ponzer soils are on nearly level to level areas of the Lower Coastal Plain. The soils formed in under very poorly drained conditions from the remains of herbaceous and related woody hydrophytic plants. Elevation near the type location is 15 feet above mean sea level. The mean annual temperature ranges from 51 to 72 degrees F. and mean annual precipitation ranges from 46 to 58 inches. The growing season is about 190 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the competing Belhaven and Scuppernong series, these are the Arapahoe, Cape Fear, Conaby, Dare, Deloss, Fortescue, Hydeland, Pamlico, Pettigrew, Portsmouth, Pungo, Roper, Smithton, Wasda, and Weeksville series. Arapahoe, Cape Fear, Deloss, Fortescue, Hydeland, Portsmouth, and Weeksville soils are mineral soils with umbric epipedons. Conaby, Pettigrew, Roper, and Wasda soils are mineral soils with histic epipedons. Dare and Pungo soils have more than 51 inches of organic materials over mineral horizons. Pamlico soils have sandy mineral horizons within the control section. Smithton soils are mineral soils and lack a histic epipedon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained; very slow runoff. Permeability is slow. In drained areas it is moderate in plowed layers; the underlying mineral layers are moderately slow. Except in drained and developed areas, Ponzer soils are saturated near the surface for 8 to 12 months each year and ponded from November to May in most years.
USE AND VEGETATION: Native vegetation commonly consists of plant communities of scattered pond pine or loblolly pine with a dense understory of reeds, switchcane; giantcane, and scattered gallberry, huckleberry, southern bayberry, and green brier. Another common plant community consists of sweetgum, red maple, redbay, and sweetbay with a few baldcypress, and water tupelo and understory of southern bayberry and greenbrier. Another common plant community consists of red maple, redbay, and sweetbay with a few baldcypress, and water tupelo and understory of southern bayberry and greenbrier. Cultivated areas are pastured or cropped to corn, soybeans, small grain, and some vegetables.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Lower Coastal Plain of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The series is moderately extensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Florence and Sumter Counties, South Carolina; 1969.
REMARKS: Ponzer soils would have formerly been classified as Bog soils.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Dolman, J. D. and S. W. Boul, A Study of Organic Soils in the Tidewater Region of North Carolina (Site 2), North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin No. 181, December, 1967. Also, Dolman, J. D. and S. W. Boul, Organic Soils on the Lower Coastal Plain or North Carolina, Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 414-18. 1968.
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0077 0-24 2.0- 4.4 20-80 0- 0 0.06- 2.0 LOW NC0077 24-52 3.5- 7.8 0.5-15 0- 0 0.2- 2.0 LOW NC0077 52-72 - - - - -SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation NC0077 PONZER 0- 2 60- 65 190-270 46- 58 5- 25
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness NC0077 NONE COMMON 0-1.0 APPARENT NOV-MAY >60 -
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- NC0077 0-24 MUCK 0- 0 - 0- 0 20- 80 NC0077 24-52 L SCL SIL 0- 0 100-100 5-25 1- 20 NC0077 52-72 VAR - - - -
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0077 0-24 2.0- 4.4 20-80 0- 0 0.06- 2.0 LOW NC0077 24-52 3.5- 7.8 0.5-15 0- 0 0.2- 2.0 LOW NC0077 52-72 - - - -