LOCATION SCUPPERNONG NCEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic, thermic Terric Haplosaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Scuppernong muck--cultivated. (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise stated.)
Oap--0 to 5 inches; black (5YR 2/1) broken face and rubbed muck; less than 1 percent unrubbed and rubbed fiber; moderate fine and medium granular structure; very friable; common fine and large roots and fragments of wood; strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oa1--5 to 9 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) broken face and rubbed muck; less than 1 percent unrubbed and rubbed fiber; massive, parting to weak fine angular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky and paste-like; common fine medium and large roots and fragments of wood; few fine pieces of charcoal; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary.
Oa2--9 to 20 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) broken face and rubbed muck; about 5 percent unrubbed fiber, less than 1 percent rubbed; massive; friable, slightly sticky and paste-like; common medium and large roots and fragments of wood; few medium pieces of charcoal; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary.
Oa3--20 to 28 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) broken face and rubbed muck; about 15 percent unrubbed fiber, 2 percent rubbed; massive; friable, slightly sticky and paste-like; common medium and large roots and fragments of wood; few medium pieces of charcoal; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizons ranges from 16 to 51 inches.)
Cg1--28 to 45 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) mucky silt loam; massive; slightly sticky; common fine streaks and pockets of light gray (10YR 7/1) very fine sand and silt; extremely acid; clear smooth boundary. (12 to 28 inches thick)
Cg2--45 to 48 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) sand; single grain; loose; few medium flakes of mica; extremely acid; gradual wavy boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)
Cg3--48 to 72 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) sand; single grain; loose; few medium flakes of mica; extremely acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Washington County, North Carolina; approximately 1.5 miles south of SR 1126 on SR 1183; 500 feet east of SR 1183.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the organic materials ranges from 16 to 51 inches. The organic horizons are ultra acid or extremely acid (in 0.01 molar calcium chloride) except where surface layers have been limed. Mineral horizons are extremely acid to neutral. Logs, stumps, and fragments of wood occupy 0 to 15 percent of the upper organic horizons in areas that are cultivated or pastured and 5 to 35 percent in undrained areas. A few (2 percent or less) pieces of charcoal and pockets of ash occur in the organic layers. Flakes of mica are few to common in the mineral horizons of most pedons.
The Oa1 horizon (if there is no Oap horizon), or the Oap horizon has hue of 5YR to 10YR, value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 to 3, or is neutral with value of 2.5 or 3. Texture is muck. In cultivated and pastured areas it has weak to moderate fine and medium granular structure. Structure occurs in the surface layers organic layers only in drained areas that are cultivated. The structure is massive but parts to fine and medium angular blocky.
The Oa2 horizon and underlying organic tiers have hue of 2.5YR or 5YR, value of 2 or 3 and chroma of 2 to 4. Texture is muck. The lower tiers of organic matter are paste-like, have a slick feel, and are massive under natural wet conditions. Upon aeration after drainage and cultivation, structure of the organic material evolves. Excessive drying causes shrinkage and hard angular blocky peds to form. These peds dry irreversibly. Fiber content is highest in the lower tier. It ranges from 10 to 50 percent unrubbed and less than 10 percent rubbed.
The upper Cg horizon has hue of 5GY, 5G or 5Y, value of 3 to 5 and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is silt loam, silty clay loam, mucky silt loam or mucky silty clay loam.
The lower Cg horizon has hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 8, and chroma of 1 or 2; or 5GY, 5G, or 5BG, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 1. The low chroma colors are the result of depleted iron caused by wetness. Texture is sand or loamy sand.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Belhaven and Ponzer series in the same family. Belhaven soils lack the silty mineral horizon below the organic layers. Ponzer soils have organic layers that are in hues of 7.5YR, 10YR, and 2.5Y and also lack the silty mineral horizon below the organic layers.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Scuppernong soils are nearly level to level and are in the Lower Coastal Plain commonly in areas around freshwater lakes. The soils formed under very poorly drained conditions from the remains of freshwater lake deposits and from vegetation now dominated by baldcypress, red maple, sweetgum, and related non-woody fibrous hydrophytic plants. Elevation at the type location is about 12 feet above the mean sea level. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 60 to 65 degrees F., and mean annual precipitation ranges from about 48 to 54 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Ballahack, Belhaven, Cape Fear, Dare, Hyde, Hydeland, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pettigrew, Ponzer, Portsmouth, Pungo, Roper, Wasda, and Weeksville series. All except Pasquotank are very poorly drained and are in a similar landscape position with Scuppernong soils. Pasquotank soils are better drained and are located on slightly higher parts of the landscape or nearer to natural drainage outlets. Ballahack, Cape Fear, Hyde, Hydeland, Pasquotank, Portsmouth, Roper, Wasda and Weeksville are mineral soils. Dare and Pungo soils have more than 51 inches of organic soil material. Pamlico soils are underlain by sandy mineral horizons. Pettigrew, Roper, and Wasda soils have a histic epipedon and less than 16 inches of organic material.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained, very slow runoff, moderately slow to moderately rapid permeability. Except where drained the soils are saturated at or near the surface 10 to 12 months of the year.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most of the known acreage is located around Phelps Lake in Washington County. It has been cleared and is being developed for improved pasture as well as for corn, soybean, and small grain production. The remaining acreage is wooded. The main tree species are southern baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), red maple (Acer rubrum), and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). The undergrowth includes gallberry (Ilex spp.), greenbrier (Smilax spp.), and fetterbush lyonia (Lyonia lucida).
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Atlantic Coastal Flatwoods in North Carolina. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Washington County, North Carolina; 1979.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and soil characteristics recognized in the typical pedon are:
Aquic conditions--redox depletions with chroma of 2 or less in mineral horizons that are not coated with organic matter (Cg horizons); observed endosaturation to the surface.
ADDITIONAL DATA: Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University
MLRA(s): 153A, 153B
TABULAR SERIES DATA:
Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University. Depth(in.) Sand Silt Clay O.M. pH 28-45 2.9 72.5 24.6 16.4 3.9SOI-5 Soil Name Slope Airtemp FrFr/Seas Precip Elevation NC0120 SCUPPERNONG 0- 2 60- 65 210-250 48- 54 5- 25
SOI-5 FloodL FloodH Watertable Kind Months Bedrock Hardness NC0120 RARE 0-1.0 APPARENT DEC-MAY >60 -
SOI-5 Depth Texture 3-Inch No-10 Clay% -CEC- NC0120 0-28 MUCK 0- 0 - 0- 0 30- 70 NC0120 28-45 SIL SICL MK-SIL 0- 0 100-100 10-27 4- 23 NC0120 45-72 S LS 0- 0 100-100 0- 5 0- 2
SOI-5 Depth -pH- O.M. Salin Permeab Shnk-Swll NC0120 0-28 2.0- 4.4 30-70 0- 0 0.2- 6.0 LOW NC0120 28-45 3.5- 7.3 2.-15 0- 0 0.2- 6.0 LOW NC0120 45-72 3.5- 7.3 0.-1. 0- 0 6.0- 20 LOW