Download Subaqueous Soil Survey

Subaqueous Soils
“A New Frontier in Soil
Survey”
Rob Tunstead
USDA-NRCS
Presented at: NJWMC/BBP Meeting
February 6, 2013
Subaqueous Soil Survey for
Barnegat Bay
Rob Tunstead
USDA-NRCS
Define Soil
• Comprised of horizons
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and layers that
undergo additions,
losses, transfers, and
transformations of
energy and / or
Has the ability or
capacity to support
rooted plants
(Eelgrass / Widgeon)
in a natural
environment.
Subaqueous History
• Traditional soil survey
conducted on land. Little
work in wetlands and
tidal marshes until the
1970’s (agricultural).
• In 1993 – Submerged
Soils: A New Frontier in
Soil Survey by George
Demas published in Soil
Survey Horizons.
• George pioneered the
concept of Subaqueous
Soils, differentiating
them from sediment.
George Demas
Subaqueous Soil
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Sediments with a positive water potential at the soil
surface for more than 21 hours of each day. The
water column is shallow (< 2.5 m/8.2 feet).
Wassists and Wassents.
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Soil must be capable of or presently supporting
rooted plants in the natural environment
and/or they must show evidence of horizon
definition due to soil forming processes.
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Four soil forming processes exist: additions,
losses, transfers, and transformations are
active in subaqueous environments.
A Subaqueous Soil Survey
is an inventory of:
• Landforms, topography of the
subaqueous land surface
• Soil Resource boundaries, and
• Soil Characteristics
Subaqueous Soil Surveys
include:
• Bathymetric Maps
• Soil Survey Maps
• Soil Series Descriptions
• Soil Interpretive Tables
Subaqueous Soil Survey
Components
• Bathymetric Maps (USGS)
Bathymetric data is collected in order
to generate a contour map of the
subaqueous landscapes. Like
terrestrial soil surveys, an
understanding of the soil-landscape
relationship is fundamental to
delineating soil units in the
subaqueous environment.
Landforms = energy = soil type
Bathymetric Maps
Subaqueous Soil Survey
Components
• Bathymetric Maps help identify those
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areas that are similar and dissimilar
to one another. After you group these
landscape and landform units
together you can begin to identify the
subaqueous areas needing field
investigation and document their soil
characteristics accordingly.
Soil Survey is a “landform / SOIL
predicting game”
sometimes your right & sometimes your wrong, this is the fun,
it’s even better being wrong as you learn more about the system
Bathymetric Maps
Barnegat Subaqueous Landforms
(Each Landform below has it’s own Soil Facies)
(Soil facies are distinctive soils that form under certain soil forming factors reflecting their process or environment.)
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Dredge Channel
Dredge-Deposit Shoal
Estuarine Tidal Creeks
Lagoon Bottom
Storm Surge Washoverfan Flat
• Flood-tidal Delta Sand
Flat
• Flood-tidal Delta
Channel
• Flood-tidal Delta Sand
Flat (relict)
• Flood-tidal Delta Slope
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(relict)
Flood-tidal Delta Slope
Submerged Wave-cut
Platform
Submerged Mainland
Beach
Mainland Cove
Shoal
Barnegat Bay Landform Map
Subaqueous Soil Survey
Components
• Soil Survey Map
Soil Survey Maps identify the location,
boundaries and distribution of different
soil types (series) with water depths
Subaqueous soil field descriptions, field
notes and investigations, vibra-cores,
and laboratory data are used to identify
and delineate subaqueous soil mapping
units
Soil Map (Preliminary)
Soils Map (Preliminary
Extent)
BB Subaqueous SS Legend
BB Subaqueous Soil
Classification Table
Barnegat Bay Field
Documentation 2012
• 83 Field Notes
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Collected
Classified to the Soil
Series Level
Fully Attributed
(ArcMap) field
notes
2012 Field Season –
August 8th –
October 25th (late
start)
Field Note & Description
Sampling Tools
McCauly (Russian) Peat
Auger
McCauly (Russian) Peat
Auger
Field Note & Description
Field Note & Description
Texture, soil strength, & sulfide sniff
Field Note & Description
2013 Equipment
Example Field Note (FN56)
Soil Survey Documentation
Field Notes
FN56 Attributes
Herring Creek
Soil Series
Map Unit Description
(example)
Soil Landform /
Landscape Model
Soil Map (Preliminary)
Core Analysis
X-Ray
Fluorescence
-Heavy
metal data
18 elements.
-KSSL Analysis – Particle size,
Db and moisture, Total C, N, S,
Inorganic C, EC and pH, CEC &
Bases, Major elements, trace
metals, mineralogy (optical or
XRD), etc.
Rapid data
collection.
Build NASIS (National Soil
Information System)
Barnegat Soil Survey 2012
Discoveries
• There are several relict inlets (8 former inlets
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that no longer exist??) More will be discovered
(Carvel Island)
There is a considerable amount of carbon
sequestration in the soils on the western portion
of the bay (Herring Creek, Southpoint, &
Tumagan)
Western portions of the bay – As sea level rose
from the former glaciation (ice melt to the
north) many former Atlantic White Cedar
swamps were flooded and preserved by the Bay
(marine silts over peat and muck).
Barnegat Soil Survey 2012
Discoveries
• Relict flood tidal deltas and washover fans
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(Indian River & Demas) have the most amount
of SAV (eelgrass & widgeon). These soils occur
mostly on the eastern portions of the bay.
The soils of the bay contain a significant amount
of sulfidic materials.
12 different Soil Series mapped
14 different landforms identified
23 different map or mapping units comprise the
soils legend to date
Barnegat Bay Subaqueous
Soil Survey Milestones
• Year 1 (2012) – Acquire bathymetry and
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determine / generate basic soils and
landform map (reimbursable for product)
Complete!!
Year 2 (2013) – Map, sample, transect,
progressively correlate, and begin NASIS
build for entire bay (build on current data)
Year 3 (2014) – Complete NASIS, final
correlation, and publish / commit soil
survey to the Soil Data Mart (SDM) / Web
Soil Survey (WSS)
Subaqueous Soil Survey Uses Include:
 Identity and protect potential SAV habitat (shellfish
and finfish nursery)
 Identify areas for creation of estuarine habitat i.e.
coastal bird nesting islands, restocking of shellfish
 Assess site potential for managing eelgrass (SAV)
remediation/restoration
 Evaluate sediment sources as potential contributors to
eutrophication
 Determine cause of habitat loss (physical, chemical and
biological)
 Provide consistent and comprehensive baseline soils
data that was previously unavailable for Barnegat Bay
 Vegetation prevalence map
Additional Subaqueous Soil Survey Uses
 Evaluate and identify soil carbon storage capabilities
 Evaluate potential for eliminating noxious/invasive
weeds common
 Characterize sediments/soil (nutrients, pH, pollutants,
metal contamination)
 Manage the shoreline resource by identifying high
erosion and depositional areas
 Evaluate barrier beach dynamics (Relict Inlets)
 Assess site potential for pier/piling, dock and mooring
placement
 Manage dredge activities & acid sulfate weathering
potentials (evaluate areas needing
removal/replenishment and identify source materials)
 Benthic Site ID and preservation
 ID stable and dynamic estuarine environments
Soils Map
• Soil Map
Subaqueous Soil Surveys
Freshwater areas in RI
• Sinepuxent & Chincoteague Bays, MD
• Rehoboth Bay, DE
• Ninigret Pond, Greenwich Bay, Point
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Judith Pond, RI
Little Narragansett Bay, CT & RI
Taunton Bay, ME
Cedar Key, FL
Padre Island, TX
Thank you Partners!
• The Barnegat Bay
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Partnership
USEPA
Ocean County College
NJ – DEP
US Geological Survey
US Fish & Wildlife Service
NOAA
ReClam the Bay
Ocean County Health Dpt.
Ocean County Soil Distict
Rutgers University
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Stockton College
American Littoral Society
US Army Corp of Engineers
Monmouth University
NJ Pinelands Commission
Rider University
Ocean County Parks
Department