Factors of subaqueous soil formation: a system of quantitative pedology for submersed environments

The development and use of estuarine sediment maps for estuarine restoration efforts have been hindered by the lack of a formal classification system or comprehensive model that explains the distribution of sediments. To enhance the evaluation, understanding, and management of sediments in shallow water habitats, a new approach must be developed in order to provide a more holistic assessment and cartographic representation of the sediment column. Having demonstrated that shallow water sediments undergo pedogenic processes and are systematically distributed across the subaqueous landscape, we applied this new technique to the development of subaqueous soil resource inventories of Sinepuxent Bay, MD and Indian River Bay, DE. These efforts indicate that the present concept of sediment as unconsolidated geologic materials must give way to a new concept—the concept of subaqueous soils. In addition, our studies indicate the need to alter present methodologies for the acquisition and cartographic representation of sediment data through the utilization of the soil–landscape paradigm and a classification scheme (such as Soil Taxonomy) for the development of subaqueous soil resource inventories. Here we present the supporting rationale for the development of subaqueous soil resource inventories; and through a synthesis of geologic and pedologic principles and concepts, propose a new state factor equation to explain subaqueous soil genesis and distribution.