LOCATION AKPIK AK
Established Series
SAS/TJR
02/2022
AKPIK SERIES
Landscape--plains
Landform--lava plain
Slope--2 to 5 percent
Parent material--loess and/or fragments residuum weathered from basalt
Mean annual precipitation--about 500 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--poorly drained
Soil moisture regime--aquic
Soil temperature regime--gelic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, nonacid, subgelic Typic Gelaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Akpik very cobbly silt loam on an east by southeast facing convex, convex lava plain, on a slope of 3 percent at an elevation of 334 m (The soil was moist to 19 cm and wet from 19 to 150 cm when described on June 27, 2016.)
Oe--0 to 7 cm; cobbly mucky peat, brown (7.5YR 4/2) dry, very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/2) moist; many very fine and common fine and medium roots; 2 percent stone, 18 percent cobble; very strongly acid (pH 4.9); clear wavy boundary
A--7 to 19 cm; very cobbly silt loam, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry, dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; very friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine and medium and common fine roots; few fine and common medium irregular pores; 15 percent gravel, 33 percent cobble, 2 percent stone; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear wavy boundary
Cg1--19 to 53 cm; cobbly silt loam, light gray (5Y 7/1) and gray (5Y 6/1) dry, 70 percent gray (5Y 5/1) and 30 percent dark gray (5Y 4/1) moist; 25 percent coarse prominent irregular yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; many very fine and common fine and medium roots; common medium irregular and tubular pores; 5 percent fine prominent irregular strongly cemented yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron with sharp boundaries; 10 percent gravel, 20 percent cobble; slightly acid (pH 6.4); diffuse wavy boundary
Cg2--53 to 150 cm; extremely stony silt loam, gray (2.5Y 6/1) dry, dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) moist; 30 percent coarse prominent irregular yellowish red (5YR 4/6) mottles; weak thin platy structure; very firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few medium irregular and tubular pores; 5 percent fine prominent irregular strongly cemented yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron with sharp boundaries; 10 percent gravel, 20 percent cobble, 30 percent stone; neutral (pH 6.6)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.2748230, longitude -161.7180400 degrees, datum WGS84 (Coordinates determined with a GPS unit)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature-- -1 to 0 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--saturated between 0 and 25 cm for at least 30 days during the growing season (aquic moisture regime)
Thickness of ochric epipedon--10 to 30 cm
Depth to redoximorphic features--10 to 30
Depth to aquic conditions--0 to 25 cm
Depth to reduced matrix--10 to 30 cm
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--15 to 28 percent
*Total fragments--35 to 70 percent
*Total gravel--0 to 70 percent
*Total cobbles--0 to 70 percent
*Total stones--0 to 70 percent
*NaF pH--8.4 or greater
*1500 kPa water to measured clay--0.6 or greater
Oe horizon
Hue--10YR, 7.5YR, or 5 YR
Value--2 to 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry
Chroma--2 to 4
Thickness--5 to 15 cm
A horizon
Hue--10YR, 7.5YR, or 2.5Y
Value--2 to 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry
Chroma--1 to 4
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, loam
Clay--8 to 18 percent
Sand--5 to 45 percent
Organic carbon--5 to 10 percent
Total rock fragments--15 to 50 percent
Total fine gravel-0 to 5 percent
Total gravel--0 to 15 percent
Total cobbles--0 to 40 percent
Reaction--5.0 to 6.0
Thickness--5 to 18 cm
Cg1 or Cg2 horizon
Hue--2.5Y, 5Y, or 5GY
Value--4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma--1 or 2
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, loam, silty clay loam
Clay--15 to 30 percent
Sand--5 to 50 percent
Organic matter--0.1 to 1 to percent
Total rock fragments--30 to 70 percent
Total fine gravel-0 to 5 percent
Total gravel--10 to 50 percent
Total cobbles--0 to 70 percent
Total stones--0 to 70 percent
Reaction--5.6 to 6.7
COMPETING SERIES: None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--25 to 400 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--400 to 600 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*
Sikinik--mixed mineralogy, histic epipedon, plains and toeslopes of hills
*
Ukpik--mixed mineralogy, aquic conditions between 25 and 50 cm (somewhat poorly drained), swales on plains
*
Ugruk--mixed mineralogy, aquic conditions at the surface (very poorly drained), organic surface layers greater than 40 cm thick, depressions on plains
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--poorly drained
*Saturation during normal years--saturated between 0 and 25 cm for at least 30 days during the growing season
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--moderately high to high in the surface organic layer and moderately high throughout the rest of the profile
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--moss, reindeer lichen, greygreen reindeer lichen, sphagnum, Bigelow's sedge, marsh Labrador tea, black crowberry, dwarf birch, cloudberry, cup lichen
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands, Alaska; MLRA 240; small extent
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nulato Hills BLM area, Nome Census Area, Alaska; 2021
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon
*Particle-size control section--zone from 32 to 107 cm
*Ochric epipedon--zone from 0 to 19 cm
*Reduced matrix--zone from 19 to 150 cm
*Aquic conditions--zone from 0 to 150 cm
*Redoximorphic iron concentrations--zone from 19 to 150 cm
*Assumed positive reaction to alpha alpha dipyridyl at some point during the growing season--zone from 0 to 19 cm
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.