LOESS IN SOILS OF DELAWARE, MARYLAND, AND NORTHEASTERN VIRGINIA

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Abstract
Silty mantles and silt components of upper soil profiles are widespread in Delaware, Maryland, and northeastern Virginia. Mantles thick enough to provide materials for entire solums have an area of a few thousands of hectares at most. Mantles of intermediate thickness have a total area of at least 3400 square kilometers (1300 square miles). Thin mantles providing materials for A and E horizons or silt components of upper profiles are also extensive, with an area of at least 2500 square kilometers (1000 square miles), most probably larger. The total extent of soils formed in part in silty mantles in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia could be as large as 9000 square kilometers (3500 square miles). Five lines of evidence are presented to support the interpretation of the silty mantles as loess. First are the positions occupied by the mantles in local landscapes. Second is the occurrence of the same types of silty mantles of the same thickness at various elevations. Third is the nature of the buried soil profiles identifiable below the mantles in a number of places. Fourth is the occurrence of silty upper horizons in soil profiles independently of the nature of the deeper regoliths. Fifth is the occurrence of loess deposits in adjacent parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania north of Delaware and Maryland.

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