MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



143 



The Leonardtown Loam. 



The Leonardtown loam is a type of soil found extensively in St. 

 Mary's County, and named from the county seat. In Calvert County 

 the type constitutes the upland in the forest country between Drum Point 

 and St. Leonard Creek, though many small areas of this soil occur over 

 the uplands farther north. Like the Norfolk loam only a small portion 

 of the original extent remains, the greater portion liaving been removed 

 by the universal erosion. 



The surface of the Leonardtown loam forms a part of the nearly 

 flat but gently sloping upland, and in any single area it is nearly hori- 

 zontal or only slightly rolling. 



The individual tracts in tlie southern part of tlie county frequently 

 contain about one thousand acres of very uniform soil, while the 

 areas farther north are much smaller — some of them comprising only a 

 few acres of almost barren clay subsoil — for erosion has progressed to 

 such an extent that only small remnants survive. In many instances 

 these remnants furnish no soil of agricultural value, but they are occa- 

 sionally selected as building spots, because their slight elevation above 

 the general level of the country gives good drainage facilities. 



The Leonardtown loam owes its origin to the deposition of clayey 

 sediments on the bottom of an old estuary or marine area. This depo- 

 sition over a large portion of the area did not take place in the usual 

 method — by a mechanical settling of fine sediment from suspension 



