LOCATION WEEKIWACHEE FLEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy or sandy-skeletal, siliceous, euic, hyperthermic Terric Sulfisaprists
TYPICAL PEDON: Weekiwachee muck in tidal marsh. (Colors are for wet soil.)
Oa1--0 to 8 inches; black (N 2/0) broken faced and rubbed, muck; about 6 percent fiber, less than 5 percent rubbed; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and medium roots; sodium pyrophosphate extract color is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); about 46 percent mineral material; 0.98 percent sulfur; 29.7 mmho/cm conductivity; neutral in water at field moisture (air dry pH 6.6 in .01M calcium chloride); gradual wavy boundary.
Oa2--8 to 14 inches; black (N 2/0) broken faced and rubbed, muck; about 6 percent fiber, less than 5 percent rubbed; weak fine granular structure; very friable; many fine roots; sodium pyrophosphate extract color is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); about 26 percent mineral material; 2.30 percent sulfur; 42.0 mmho/cm conductivity; neutral in water at field moisture (air dry pH 5.1 in .01M calcium chloride); gradual wavy boundary.
Oa3--14 to 19 inches; black (N 2/0) broken faced and rubbed, muck; about 6 percent fiber, less than 5 percent rubbed; weak medium granular structure; friable; common fine roots; sodium pyrophosphate extract color is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); about 33 percent mineral material; 4.41 percent sulfur; 44.2 mmho/cm conductivity; neutral in water a field moisture (air dry pH 4.5 in .01M calcium chloride); gradual wavy boundary.
Oa4--19 to 26 inches; black (10YR 2/1) broken faced and rubbed, muck; about 18 percent fiber, less than 5 percent rubbed; weak medium granular structure; very friable; sodium pyrophosphate extract color is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); about 48 percent mineral material; 2.96 percent sulfur; 41.8 mmho/cm conductivity; few 2.5 inch wood chunks; neutral in water at field moisture (air dry pH 4.9 in .01M calcium chloride); clear wavy boundary.
Oa5--26 to 32 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) broken faced and rubbed, muck; about 20 percent fiber, less than 5 percent rubbed; weak medium granular structure; very friable; sodium pyrophosphate extract color is dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); about 71 percent mineral material; common 2 to 4 inch wood chunks; 1.40 percent sulfur; 36.4 mmho/cm conductivity; neutral in water at field moisture (air dry pH 5.0 in .01M calcium chloride); gradual wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Oa horizon is 16 to 38 inches thick.)
C--32 to 36 inches; very dark gray (10YR 3/1) fine sand; common distinct coarse dark gray (10YR 4/1) mottles; massive; very friable; few fine roots; common uncoated sand grains in dark gray mottles; common dark brown (10YR 4/3) decayed wood chunks; mildly alkaline; abrupt irregular boundary. (3 to 7 inches thick)
Cr--36 to 45 inches; white (10YR 8/1) soft limestone; massive; firm, about 36 percent hard limestone fragments; most roots do not penetrate this layer but are turned at the upper boundary; moderately alkaline; calcareous; abrupt irregular boundary. (14 to 26 inches thick)
R--45 inches; hard white limestone that can be chipped but not dug with a spade.
TYPE LOCATION: Hernando County, Florida; about .025 mile east on Pine Island and 1 mile north of Bayport Restaurant in the NE1/4SE1/4 Sec. 18, T. 22 S., R. 17 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Sulfur content ranges from 0.75 to 4.0 percent or more above the Cr horizon. The organic layers in all tiers are dominantly sapric material, but in some pedons wood chunks occur. Combined thickness of the Oa and C horizons over the Cr horizon is highly variable but is dominantly 30 to 40 inches. Depth to the R horizon is commonly 40 to 51 inches but frequently ranges to 60 inches or more. Conductivity of the saturation extract above the Cr horizon ranges from about 16 to 45 mmho/cm. Reaction in water in the natural state ranges from slightly acid to moderately alkaline in the Oa and C horizons; after air drying the pH in 0.01M calcium chloride ranges from 4.5 to 5.5 except the Oa1 horizon which ranges to 7.3.
The Oa horizon has hue of 10YR to 5YR, value of 3 or less, and chroma of 3 or less. Unrubbed fiber content ranges from about 6 to 30 percent and is less than 5 percent rubbed. Mineral content ranges from about 26 percent to 80 percent but is dominantly less than 65 percent.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 4 or less, and chroma of 2 or less with or without mottles or streaks of gray or brown. Texture is mucky sand, mucky fine sand, sand, or fine sand. Organic matter content ranges from about 2 to 20 percent.
The Cr horizon has hue of 10YR, value of 7 or 8, and chroma of 1 or 2. Hard limestone fragments occur randomly throughout the horizon and range from about 20 to 35 percent by volume. Solution holes in this layer range from none to about three in each pedon and, where present, are filled with sandy mineral material and hard limestone fragments.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the Wulfert series. Wulfert soils do not have limestone bedrock within a depth of 40 inches.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Weekiwachee soils are in nearly level, broad tidal marshes. They formed in moderately thick deposits of hydrophytic plant remains and sandy marine sediments overlying soft and hard limestone. Near the type location, rainfall averages about 50 to 60 inches annually with mean annual air temperature of 70 to 74 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Homosassa and Lachoochee series and to a lesser extent with the Aripeka series. All these soils are of mineral origin.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Weekiwachee soils are very poorly drained. Moderately rapid permeability. Under natural conditions the soil is flooded daily during normal high tides. Available water capacity for adapted vegetation is very high in the Oa horizons and medium to high in the C horizons.
USE AND VEGETATION: Areas of this soil remain in native vegetation consisting dominantly of needlegrass rush, seashore saltgrass, marshhay cordgrass, big cordgrass, and smooth cordgrass.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Coastal tidal areas of Peninsular Florida. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Auburn, Alabama
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Hernando County, Florida; 1976.
REMARKS: The revision changed the series classification to recognize the 1992 amendments to Soil Taxonomy that introduced changes in classification of Histosols.
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: Organic materials - The zone extending from the surface to a depth of 32 inches. (Oa1, Oa2, Oa3, Oa4, Oa5 horizon)
DATA: Soil Characterization Lab. IFAS, UOF
S51-15-(1-4)