Soil Survey of Bristol County, Massachusetts

NORTHERN PART

WD-Westbrook mucky peat. This soil is deep, level, and very poorly drained. It is on tidal flats that are subject to inundation twice daily by salt water. The mapped areas are irregular in shape and range from 5 to 80 acres in size.

Typically, the surface layer is dark grayish brown partly decomposed organic material about 24 inches thick. The subsurface layer extends to a depth of 35 inches and is very dark brown organic material that is more decomposed than the surface layer. The substratum to a depth of 60 inches is massive gray silt loam.

Included with this soil in mapping are areas of soils that are located upstream on the rivers. These soils are inundated twice daily by fresh water that is backed up by the incoming tide. Also included are areas of soils that have organic deposits over 5 feet thick, and areas of soils which are underlain by sand. Some soils have less than 16 inches of organic material overlying silt or sand. One area of soils in the town of Dighton has small islands of rock outcrop. Included areas are as much as 10 acres in size. The included soils make up 30 percent of the map unit.

Permeability is moderate to rapid in the organic layers and moderate in the underlying mineral sediment. Reaction ranges from strongly acid to neutral, but acidity in- creases if the soil is drained.

This soil has poor potential for farming, urban use, and sanitary waste disposal facilities. It has poor potential for trees. The soil has good potential as wetland wildlife habitat for fish, shellfish, and coastal water wildfowl.

The soil is not suited to cultivated crops, hay, pasture, or trees. It is flooded daily with salt water.

The daily flooding is a limitation for most urban use and for sanitary waste disposal facilities. Capability subclass VIIIw.

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