A Review of the Assessment of the Characteristic of the Marshes of the Chesapeake Bay Region.

In the early 1970’s, a study was done of the ~250,000 acres of wetlands adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. This was the first such study done in the region. It was styled as a reconnaissance soil mapping project of these marshes that had never been evaluated before. At the time, there was little or no protection of the marshes from anthropogenic impacts such as drainage or real estate development. In addition, these soils had never been studied from a geomorphic/soils point-of-view. Marsh soils and sediments were collected and evaluated in the lab for several parameters including salinity, organic matter content, and particle size. Based the physical and chemical parameters and geomorphic province, a generalized classification of the marsh types was developed at a large scale view. At a more finely evaluated scale, a number of soil series were developed to describe more localized soil types. This paper will present the changes in land use and marsh classification concepts over the intervening 40 years.