LOCATION SOUTH RIVER             MD+NJ

Established Series
CEP/DCS
10/2022

SOUTH RIVER SERIES

MLRA(s): 149A
Soil Survey Regional Office (SSRO) Responsible: Raleigh, North Carolina
Depth Class: Very deep
Drainage Class: Subaqueous (permanently submersed / continuously inundated)
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to very high throughout
Parent Material: Sandy, mixed estuarine deposits over coarse-loamy, glauconitic fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 13 degrees C. (55 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Water Temperature: 12 degrees C. (53 degrees F.)

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, glauconitic, nonacid, mesic Aeric Sulfiwassents

TYPICAL PEDON: South River loamy sand on a southwest facing wave-cut platform landform with less than 2 percent slope under 1 meter of estuarine water. (Colors are for moist soils unless otherwise noted).

Aseg--0 to 4 cm; greenish black (10Y 2.5/1) shelly loamy sand; single grain, loose; slightly fluid; 20% by volume shell fragments; moderate hydrogen sulfide odor; slightly alkaline (pH 7.4), ultra acid (pH 3.3) incubated pH; color change with 3% hydrogen peroxide, strongly effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; clear boundary.

ACseg--4 to 30 cm; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) extremely shelly sandy loam; massive; slightly fluid; 70 percent by volume shell fragments; slight hydrogen sulfide odor; slightly alkaline (pH 7.8) extremely acid (pH 3.7) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, slightly effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; clear boundary.

Cseg1--30 to 47 cm; dark greenish gray (5GY 3/1) sandy loam; massive; slightly fluid; 2 percent by volume shell fragments; slight hydrogen sulfide odor; slightly alkaline (pH 7.7), ultra acid (pH 2.2) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; gradual boundary.

Cseg2--47 to 70 cm; dark greenish gray (5GY 3/1) loamy sand; single grain, loose; nonfluid; 1 percent by volume shell fragments; slight hydrogen sulfide odor; moderately alkaline (pH 7.9); extremely acid (pH 3.6) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; clear boundary.

2Bt--70 to 89 cm; pale olive (5Y 6/3) sandy clay loam; massive; nonfluid; slightly alkaline (pH 7.5), neutral (pH 7.0) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; clear boundary.

2BC--89 to 121 cm; 85 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and 15 percent olive (5Y 5/3) loamy coarse sand; single grain; nonfluid; 15% prominent dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) and 5% prominent yellowish red (5YR 5/8) iron oxide concentrations; neutral (pH 7.2), slightly acid (pH 6.5) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; clear boundary.

2CBg1--121 to 140 cm; olive gray (5Y 5/2) loamy sand; single grain; nonfluid; 10% distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) iron oxide concentrations; neutral (pH 6.7), slightly acid (pH 6.2) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide; gradual boundary.

2CBg2--140 to 183 cm; olive gray (5Y 5/2) loamy sand; single grain; nonfluid; moderately acid (pH 5.7), moderately acid (pH 5.6) incubated pH; no color reaction with 3% hydrogen peroxide, non-effervescent with 30% hydrogen peroxide.

TYPE LOCATION: Anne Arundel County, Maryland; South River, near the mouth of Selby Bay, approximately 1,100 feet northeast of Long Point, 2,800 feet northwest of Turkey Point; USGS South River topographic quadrangle; latitude 38 degrees, 54 minutes, 48.09 seconds N; longitude 76 degrees, 30 minutes, 10.62 seconds W, WGS 1984; Major Land Resource Area 149A.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to bedrock: Greater than 200 centimeters
Depth to seasonal high water table: Permanently submersed
Depth to hyper-sulfidic materials (incubated pH 4.0): 0 to 50 centimeters
Depth to lithologic discontinuity: between 18 to 100 centimeters
Manner of Failure / Fluidity Class: nonfluid to slightly fluid throughout
Shell Fragments: 0 to 35 percent, by volume, in the estuarine sands; 0 to 1 percent in the fluviomarine Tertiary deposits.
Soil reaction: Slightly acid to moderately alkaline in the estuarine deposits, very strongly acid to slightly alkaline in the fluviomarine Tertiary deposits; oxidized reaction: Ultra acid to moderately alkaline in the estuarine deposits, extremely acid to neutral in the fluviomarine Tertiary deposits.
Electrical Conductivity: greater than 1.13 dS / m-1 in estuarine deposits; less than 1.5 dS / m-1 in the Tertiary fluviomarine deposits by 1:5 by volume solution mixture
Buried shell layers can be present in these soils (up to 70% shell fragments by volume but thin enough keeping the soil out of the skeletal families).
Glauconite range is from 20 to 23% by weight in the fine-earth fraction.

RANGE OF INDIVIDUAL HORIZONS:
Ag or Aseg horizons:
Color - hue of 2.5Y, N, 10Y, 5GY, 10GY; value of 2.5 to 4 and chroma of 1
Texture - sand, loamy sand, fine sandy loam

Cseg or Cg horizon:
Color - hue of 5Y, 10Y, 5GY; value of 2.5 to 5; and chroma of 1 or 2
Texture - sand, fine sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, fine sandy loam
2Btseb or 2Btsegb horizon (if present):
Color - hue of 10YR, 5Y, 5GY, 10GY, 5G; value of 3 to 6; and chroma of 1 to 3
Texture - sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, loam, sandy clay

2BC, 2BCgb, 2BCseb, or 2BCsegb horizon:
Color - hue of 10YR, 5Y, 10Y, 10GY; value of 3 to 5; and chroma of 1 to 4
Texture -sand, loamy sand, loamy coarse sand, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, sandy clay

2CBg, 2CBseg, or 2CBb horizon:
Color -hue of 10 YR, 5Y, 5GY; value of 4 to 6; and chroma of 1 to 3
Texture - loamy sand, coarse sandy loam, sandy loam, clay loam

2C, 2Cg, or 2Cseg horizon:
Color - hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, 5Y, N, 10Y, 5GY, 10GY; value of 2.5 to 5; and chroma of 0 to 6
Texture - sand, fine sand, loamy sand, loamy fine sand, sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam

COMPETING SERIES: None

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Northern Coastal Plain estuaries
Landform: Wave-Cut Platforms
Parent Material: Sandy, mixed estuarine deposits over coarse-loamy, glauconitic fluviomarine deposits
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean Annual Air Temperature: 11 to 15 degrees C. (52 to 59 degrees F.)
Mean Annual Water Temperature: 10 to 16 degrees C. (50 to 60 degrees F.)
Water Depth Range: 0 to 10 feet (0 to 3 meters)
Water Regime: Tidal, 0 to 2 feet (0 to 0.6 meters) tidal range
Water Salinity Range: 3 to 25 ppt

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Broad Creek soils - fine-loamy soils that occur on estuarine tidal stream channel landforms; includes hypersulfidic materials and a buried A horizon.
Duvall Creek soils - sandy soils formed in stratified Holocene sands on submerged wave-built terrace landforms.
Hillsmere soils - fine-loamy soils that occur on estuarine channel and mainland cove landforms; contains hypersulfidic materials.
Long Point soils - coarse-loamy soils that occur on submerged tidal marsh landforms; composed of Holocene sandy material and hemic organic material overlying a relatively intact paleosol; contains hypersulfidic materials.
Overboard soils - fine-loamy soils that occur on estuarine tidal stream Platform landforms; composed of Holocene fluid fine material overlying Tertiary fluviomarine deposits; includes a buried A horizon and has greater than 20% glauconite by volume in the fine earth fraction.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage Class: Subaqueous drainage
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: Moderately high to very high throughout
Soil Moisture Regime: Peraquic
Soil is permanently submerged / continuously inundated with brackish water. The presence of hypersulfidic materials within 50 cm of the soil surface puts these soils at risk for potential acid sulfate soil formation if they are dredged and exposed to the air.

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Areas of this soil are used for recreational fishing, swimming, and boating. Commercial uses include shell fishing and aquaculture.
Dominant Vegetation: Benthic fauna such as clams, blue crabs, and oysters are associated with this soil. Eelgrass (Zostera marina), sea lettuce (Ulva sp.), and horned pondweed (Zannichellia palustris) may occur on these soils.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Raleigh, North Carolina.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain sub-estuaries of the western portion of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Seaboard estuaries of Monmouth County, NJ. MLRA 149A. This series is of small extent.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 2022.

REMARKS: This subaqueous series is named for the South River, because it resembles the complex pedogenic history of the estuary exposing the eroded Tertiary aged fluviomarine deposits. South River soils were formerly included with mapping as water.

Diagnostic horizons and other diagnostic soil characteristics recognized in this pedon are (Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Twelfth Edition, 2012):
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 30 centimeters (Aseg and ACseg horizons)
Hyper-sulfidic materials - the zone from 0 to 70 centimeters incubated pH values less than 4 after 16 weeks.
Peraquic feature - the zone from 0 to 183 centimeters is permanently saturated
Argillic horizon - the zone from 70 to 89 centimeters (2Bt horizon)
Lithologic Discontinuity - the zone from 70 to 183 centimeters

ADDITIONAL DATA: Park, C.E., University of Maryland, Master of Science, 2021; thesis; Subaqueous Soils of South River, Maryland: Soil-Landscape Model Evaluation

Data Map Unit ID: 883194
NASIS user site and pedon ID: 2021MD003009

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.