LOCATION PUCKUM MD+DE PAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic, mesic Typic Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Puckum muck, on a smooth 0 percent slope, in a wooded area. (Colors are for a moist soil).
Oa1--0 to 4 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-seventh of the soil volume after rubbing; 20 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oa2--4 to 20 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-seventh of the soil volume after rubbing; 25 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa3--20 to 40 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-seventh of the soil volume after rubbing; 30 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; moderately fluid; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa4--40 to 57 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) woody muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-seventh of the soil volume after rubbing; 40 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; 20 percent yellow (10YR 8/6) soft woody fragments 0.5 to 2 inches in diameter; strongly acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa5--57 to 65 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-tenth of the soil volume after rubbing; 50 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.
Oa6--65 to 80 inches; very dark brown (10YR 3/2) muck (sapric soil material); fiber content is one-tenth of the soil volume after rubbing; 60 percent, by weight, mineral soil material; strongly acid. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizon is more than 51 inches.)
TYPE LOCATION: Dorchester County, Maryland; about 0.5 miles northwest of Sharptown, Maryland; 120 feet southwest of route 313 into the swamp: lat. 38 degrees 32 minutes 54 seconds N. and long. 75 degrees 43 minutes 25 seconds W.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of the Underlying Material: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 60 inches
Depth to Mineral Horizons: Greater than 51 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 inches, January to December
Rock Fragments: 0 to 5, by volume
Wood Fragments: 0 to 25 percent, by volume throughout the profile, mostly twigs, branches, logs, or stumps and are 0.5 to 12 inches in diameter. Fragments are firm but break under pressure and are in some part of the profile in most pedons.
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to strongly acid, throughout the profile
Electrical Conductivity: 0 to 4 mmhos/cm, throughout the profile
RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Surface tier, 0 to 12 inches (upper part of the Oa horizon):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, chroma of 1 to 6, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4
Texture (less than 2mm fraction)--muck (sapric soil material) or mucky peat (hemic soil material) and may contain thin layers of mucky silt loam or silty clay loam
Mineral Material Content: 10 to 55 percent, by weight
Subsurface tier 12 to 36 inches (middle part of the Oa horizon):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, chroma of 1 to 4, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4
Texture (less than 2mm fraction)--muck (sapric soil material) or mucky peat (hemic soil material) and may contain thin layers of silty mineral
Mineral Material Content: 25 to 70 percent, by weight
Bottom tier 36 to 51 inches (lower part of the Oa horizon):
Color--hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 to 4, chroma of 1 to 4, or is neutral with value of 2 to 4
Texture (less than 2mm fraction)--muck (sapric soil material) or mucky peat (hemic soil material) and may contain thin layers of silty mineral material. Below 51 inches, some pedons contain thin strata of loamy or sandy mineral material
Mineral Material Content: 25 to 70 percent, by weight
Cg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 5YR to 5GY, value of 2 to 6, chroma of 1 to 6, or is neutral with value of 2 to 8
Texture (fine-earth fraction)--loam, sandy loam, loamy sand, or sand
Organic Material Content: 1 to 20 percent, by weight
COMPETING SERIES:
Freetown soils--have mean annual temperature less than 50 degrees F. with high frost action, no flooding frequency, and formed in glacial bogs
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Coastal Plain
Landform: Freshwater swamps on broad floodplains
Elevation: 0 to 3 feet
Parent Material: Highly decomposed organic deposits derived from woody materials
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 52 to 58 degrees F.
Mean Annual Precipitation: 42 to 48 inches
Frost Free Period: 190 to 210 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Fallsington soils--poorly drained mineral soils and have a fine-loamy particle-size control section, on higher landforms
Fort Mott soils--well drained loamy mineral soils, on higher landforms
Galestown soils--somewhat excessively drained, sandy mineral soils, on higher landforms
Pone soils--very poorly drained mineral soil that have a coarse-loamy particle-size control section, on slightly higher landforms
USE: Most areas are forested
VEGETATION: Native vegetation includes red maple, blackgum, sweetgum, swamp chestnut oak, water oak, smooth alder, northern white cedar, sweet bay (swamp magnolia), arrowwood, green briar, American holly, ferns, sedges, grasses and mosses.
DISTRIBUTION: Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania
EXTENT: Moderate
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Dorchester County, Maryland, 1992
REMARKS: These soils were formerly included in the swamp miscellaneous area.
Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are:
Sapric material--the zone from 0 to 80 inches has a fiber content after rubbing that is less than one-sixth of the soil volume (Os horizon)
SERIES INTERPRETATION RECORD(S): MD0132
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation
MD0132 PUCKUM 0- 2 52- 57 190-210 42- 48 0- 3
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness MD0132 FREQ 0.0 APPARENT - >60 SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- MD0132 0- 4 MPT MUCK 0- 0 - 0- 0 40- 80 MD0132 4-80 MUCK MPT 0- 0 - 0- 0 40- 80SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll MD0132 0- 4 3.5- 5.5 45-90 0- 4 2.0- 6.0 LOW MD0132 4-80 3.5- 5.5 30-75 0- 4 2.0- 6.0 LOW