LOCATION ALLIKSUK AK
Tentative Series
SWD/CBB
10/2024
ALLIKSUK SERIES
Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: loamy alluvium derived from metamorphic and sedimentary rock
Landscape: river valleys
Landform: terraces
Slopes: 0 to 8 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 450 mm (17.72 in)
Mean annual air temperature: about -4 degrees C. (25 degrees F.)
Frost-free period: 70 to 90 days
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive Fluventic Haplocryepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Alliksuk silt loam in a white spruce woodland on an east facing linear, linear terrace tread on a slope of 2 percent at an elevation of 122 m (400 ft)
Oe--0 to 4 cm (0 to 2 in); moderately decomposed plant material, very dark brown (10YR 2/2) broken face moist, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) broken face dry; many very fine and fine roots throughout; strongly acid (pH 5.4); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 5 cm, 1 to 2 in thick)
Bw--4 to 32 cm (2 to 13 in); silt loam, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) broken face moist, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) broken face dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable, soft, nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; few very fine, fine, and coarse roots throughout; very fine and fine irregular pores; 2 % of SOM; 1.16 % of SOC; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 60 cm, 8 to 24 in thick)
Bjj--32 to 85 cm (13 to 34 in); sandy loam, 90 percent very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) broken face and 10 percent black (10YR 2/1) broken face moist, 90 percent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) broken face and 10 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) broken face dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; few very fine roots top of horizon; very fine irregular pores; 5 percent gravel; 3 % of SOM; 1.74 % of SOC; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 65 cm, 8 to 26 in thick)
C--85 to 200 cm (34 to 79 in); gravelly sandy loam, very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) broken face moist, grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) broken face dry; structureless massive; slightly hard, friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; very fine irregular pores; 10 percent medium, prominent, irregular brown (7.5R 4/4), moist, masses of oxidized iron in matrix; 20 percent gravel; 1.96 % of SOM; 1.13 % of SOC; slightly acid (pH 6.4). (70 to 158 cm, 28 to 62 in thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Nulato Hills - Continental Divide and Blackburn Hills Soil Survey Area, Alaska; latitude 64 degrees 13 minutes 5.18 seconds north, longitude 160 degrees 10 minutes 42.85 seconds west, datum WGS84, UTM north 7121848.50 and UTM east 442805.85, zone 4W, datum WGS84.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture regime: udic
Soil temperature regime: cryic
Mean annual soil temperature: 0 to 3 degrees C. (32 to 37 degrees F.)
Thickness of organic material: 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in)
Thickness of ochric epipedon: 22 to 65 cm (9 to 14 in)
Thickness of cambic horizon: 64 to 195 cm (25 to 77 in)
Depth to redoximorphic concentrations: 42 to 130 cm (16 to 51 in)
Depth to cryoturbation: 22 to 65 cm (9 to 14 in)
Oe horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 7.5YR
Value: 2 to 3 moist, 4 to 5 dry
Chroma: 1 to 2
Texture: moderately decomposed plant material
Organic matter: 60 to 90 percent
Reaction class: extremely acid to moderately acid (pH 3.5 to 6.0)
Bw horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value: 3 to 4 moist, 5 to 6 dry
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam
Sand: 20 to 48 percent
Silt: 50 to 78 percent
Clay: 2 to 8 percent
Organic matter: 1 to 4 percent
Reaction class: strongly acid to slightly acid (pH 5.1 to 6.5)
Bjj horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y or 10YR
Value: 2 to 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: sandy loam or silt loam
Sand: 20 to 60 percent
Silt: 32 to 78 percent
Clay: 2 to 8 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 14 percent
Gravels: 0 to 14 percent
Organic matter: 1 to 4 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)
C horizon:
Hue: 2.5Y, 5Y, or 10YR
Value: 2 to 5
Chroma: 2 to 4
Texture: sandy loam, silt loam, or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 20 to 60 percent
Silt: 32 to 78 percent
Clay: 2 to 8 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 30 percent
Gravels: 0 to 30 percent
Organic matter: 0.4 to 3 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation: 50 to 380 meters (165 to 1,245 feet)
Parent material: loamy alluvium derived from metamorphic and sedimentary rock
Landform: terraces
Slopes: 0 to 8 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 400 to 500 mm (16 to 20 in)
Mean annual air temperature: -6 to -1 degrees C. (21 to 30 degrees F.)
Frost free period: 70 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Kiuriruk and Asriavik soils.
Kiuriruk soils a histic epipedon and permafrost within 100 cm (40 in) and occur on similar landforms on poorly drained treads.
Asriavik soils have a folistic epipedon and loamy-skeletal over sandy or sandy-skeletal particle size class and occur on similar landforms on treads.
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class: well drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: very high in the Oe horizon, moderately high in the Bw horizon, and moderately high to high in the Bjj and C horizons
Permeability: rapid to very rapid in the Oe horizon, moderate in the Bw horizon, and moderate to rapid in the Bjj and C horizons
Runoff: low
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use: wildlife habitat, recreation, and subsistence
Native vegetation: dwarf birch, bog blueberry, polytrichum moss, splendid feather moss, marsh Labrador tea, white spruce, lingonberry, greygreen reindeer lichen, star reindeer lichen, reindeer lichen, bluejoint, black crowberry, tealeaf willow, cloudberry, and beauverd spirea.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 240, Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands. The series is of moderate extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Wasilla, Alaska
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nulato Hills - Continental Divide and Blackburn Hills Soil Survey, Alaska, 2024.
REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include:
Particle-size control section: 29 to 104 cm (11 to 41 in)
Ochric epipedon: 0 to 32 cm (0 to 13 in) (Oe and Bw horizons)
Cambic horizon: 4 to 85 cm (2 to 33 in) (Bw and Bjj horizons)
Redoximorphic concentrations: 85 to 200 cm (33 to 79 in) (C horizon)
Cryoturbation: 32 to 85 cm (13 to 33 in) (Bjj horizon)
ADDITIONAL DATA:
User pedon ID: 2021AK180857
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.