Monie Bay - Chesapeake Bay, MD

Geology

The Monie Bay component lies in surface deposits of the Quaternary Age, which are composed of grey to buff colored sands with interbedded clays and shell beds. These are part of a sequence of intercalated alluvial sands and marsh beds on the eastern side of the Delmarva Peninsula. The western side of the peninsula has been described as a broad lowland in which surface altitudes can range from 0-25 feet above sea level, though most are less than ten feet. This lowland is extensively dissected and contains bay flats and broad valley bottoms. Narrow estuaries such as Monie Bay are bordered by tidal marsh deposits of the Holocene Age, which extend east from the Chesapeake Bay and Tangier Sound across this coastal lowland into the central Delmarva Peninsula. At Monie Bay, Holocene Marsh Deposits overlap the lowland Quaternary Deposits.

Soil Types

Most of the soils at Monie Bay are classified as tidal marsh soils, containing material ranging from sand to clay, and may be peaty to mucky and highly sulfurous. Most of the upland portions of the site are in the Othello soil series, typically flat areas just above sea level. This series is generally composed of poorly drained, gray, silty soils over a mottled, silty clay loam subsoil. These soils are strongly acidic.

Monie Creek

Back

Next