LOCATION TENT                    MD

Tentative Series
MAL-RLH-GPD/Rev. DAS-JAK
09/2016

TENT SERIES

Note: This series (Initial Review Draft) is open for peer review. Please send comments by 10/01/2000 to: [e-mail]

MLRA(s): 149A, 153C, 153D
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Endoaquults
Depth class: Very deep
Agricultural Drainage Class: Poorly drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence Class: Very Shallow (less than 10 inches) and common (present 3 to 6 months per year)
Permeability: Slow to moderately slow
Index Surface Runoff: Low
Parent Material: Silty deposits overlying loamy fluvio-marine or estuarine sediments
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual temperature: 55 degrees F
Mean annual precipitation: 44 inches

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Endoaquults

TYPICAL PEDON: Tent silt loam, on a one percent slope, in a cultivated field. (Colors are for moist soil.)

Ap--0 to 10 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable; slightly sticky; slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron masses; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (6 to 10 inches thick)

ABg--10 to 13 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; slightly sticky; slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; few fine tubular pores; common fine distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) iron masses along roots; very strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (0 to 5 inches thick)

Btg1--13 to 23 inches; gray (10YR 5/1) silty clay loam; moderate medium to coarse prismatic structure; firm; slightly sticky; plastic; few very fine and fine roots on ped faces; few fine tubular pores; common fine distinct brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) iron masses in ped interiors; common medium distinct dark gray (10YR 4/1) clay films on ped faces; very strongly acid; clear wavy boundary.

Btg2--23 to 28 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silt loam; moderate medium to coarse prismatic structure; firm; slightly sticky; plastic; common fine and medium roots between peds; few very fine tubular pores; few medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) iron masses in ped interiors; few medium distinct very dark gray (10YR 3/1) organic stains on ped faces; common medium distinct dark gray (10YR 4/1) discontinuous clay films on ped faces; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bt horizons is 10 to 30 inches)

BCg--28 to 35 inches; gray (10YR 6/1) silt loam; weak coarse platy structure; friable; slightly sticky; slightly plastic; common very fine roots along ped faces; common very fine tubular pores; few medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) iron masses in ped interiors; few medium distinct very dark gray (10YR 3/1) organic stains on ped faces; neutral; clear wavy boundary. (0 to 7 inches thick)

Cg1--35 to 47 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silt loam; weak coarse and very coarse platy structure; friable; few very fine roots in ped interiors; common very fine tubular pores; common medium and coarse distinct strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) iron concentration along root channels; neutral; clear smooth boundary

Cg2--47 to 73 inches; gray (5Y 6/1) silt loam; weak very coarse platy structure; friable; common very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; few medium distinct yellowish brown (10YR 5/4 and 10YR 5/6) iron masses in ped interiors; last 3 inches of horizon includes thin bands of gray (5Y 6/1) loam with strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) iron masses; neutral; gradual wavy boundary

TYPE LOCATION: New Castle County, Delaware. About 2,200 feet northeast of the intersection of County Road 30 (Paddock Road) and State Route 465 (Eagle's Nest Landing Road), about 300 feet southeast into a field. USGS Smyrna topographic quadrangle; lat. 39 degrees, 21 minutes, 28 seconds N and long. 75 degrees, 35 minutes, 5 seconds W.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Depth to the Base of the Argillic: 20 to 45 inches
Depth to Bedrock: Greater than 72 inches
Depth to Seasonal High Water Table: 0 to 12 inches
Soil Reaction: Extremely acid to neutral, except where limed
Thickness of Silty Mantle: 45 to greater than 72 inches

A or Ap horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 4 to 6, and chroma of 1 to 3, or is neutral with value of 4 to 6
Texture--silt loam
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

ABg horizon or BAg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 or 6, and chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 4 to 6
Texture-silt loam
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

Eg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 4 to 8
Texture--silt loam
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

Btg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 4 to 8
Texture--silt loam or silty clay loam. Some pedons have thin layers of silty clay in lower part of Btg
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

BCg or Cg horizon:
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 4 to 8
Texture--silt loam
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

2Cg horizon (if it occurs):
Color--hue of 10YR to 5Y, value of 5 to 7, chroma of 1 or 2, or is neutral with value of 4 to 8
Texture--thinly stratified alluvium ranging from silt through loamy sand
Redoximorphic features (if they occur)--iron masses in shade of red, yellow, or brown and iron depletions in shades of brown, yellow, olive, or gray

COMPETING SERIES:
Elkton soils--average greater than 27 percent clay in the particle-size control section and do not have as thick a silty mantle
Knowlton soils--formed in alluvium from shale, sandstone, and siltstone, bedrock
Othello soils--do not have a silt mantle greater than 36 inches thick
Shadyoak soils--contain glauconite and sulfidic materials in the substratum, on similar landform positions
Toddstav soils--formed in silty colluvial and alluvial materials derived from mica schist, on drainageways in the Piedmont Plateau

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Landscape: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
Landform: Low-lying uplands, upland flats
Elevation: Generally less than 50 feet
Parent Material: Silty deposits overlying loamy fluvio-marine sediments or estuarine sediments
Mean Annual Temperature: 50 to 58 degrees F
Mean Annual Precipitation: 42 to 50 inches
Frost Free Period: 170 to 210 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Appoquinimink soils--developed in recent silty fluvial sediments overlying organic materials on tidal marshes
Broadkill soils--developed in recent silty marine deposits on tidal marshes
Leipsic soils(T)--have a seasonal high water table between 20 and 40 inches and similar texture, on slightly higher landform positions
Mattapex soil--have a seasonal high water table between 18 and 36 inches with coarser textured substrata, on slightly higher landform positions
Shadyoak soils (T)--contain glauconite and sulfidic materials in the substratum, on similar landform positions
Cumberstone soils (T)--have a seasonal high water table between 10 and 20 inches and contain glauconite, on slightly higher landform positions

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY:
Agricultural Drainage: Poorly drained
Internal Free Water Occurrence Class: Very shallow and common
Index Surface Runoff: Low
Permeability: Slow to moderately slow

USE AND VEGETATION:
Major Uses: Woodland or cropland
Dominant Vegetation: Where cultivated--soybeans, corn, and small grains. Where wooded--sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), red maple (Acer rubra), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), white oak (Quercus alba), willow oak (Quercus phellos), scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), persimmon (Diaspyros virginiana), poison ivy (Rhus radicans), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) and greenbriar (Smilax rotundifolium).

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
Distribution: Coastal Plain of Delaware, and possibly Maryland and New Jersey.
Extent: Small

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Morgantown, West Virginia

SERIES PROPOSED: New Castle County, Delaware, 1995.

REMARKS:
Tent soils were formerly included in the Elkton series. They are distinguished from Elkton by having a dominantly silty substratum. Some pedons have an Ab and Oe horizon below 65 inches.

Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon--the zone from 0 to 13 inches
Argillic horizon--the zone from 13 to 28 inches
Aquic condition-the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 80 inches is continuously or periodically saturated
Series Control Section: 0 to 60 inches

ADDITIONAL DATA: The type location pedon was sampled as S93DE-003-010. Additional reference samples are S92DE-003-017, S95DE-003-005, and S95DE-003-007.

DATA MAPUNIT ID: To be developed

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.