LOCATION ASULU AK
Established Series
SAS/TJR
02/2022
ASULU SERIES
Landscape--valley
Landform--loess covered terraces and plains
Microfeature--polygon
Slope--0 to 2 percent
Parent material--cryoturbated organic material over cryoturbated loess
Mean annual precipitation--about 450 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep (moderately deep to permafrost)
Drainage class--poorly drained
Soil moisture regime--aquic
Soil temperature regime--gelic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic, subgelic Terric Hemistels
TYPICAL PEDON: Asulu mucky peat on an east by north-east facing convex, linear plain talf, on a slope of 2 percent at an elevation of 16 m (The soil was wet, non-satiated to 15 cm and wet, satiated to 150 cm when described on May 30, 2018.)
Oi/Oajj --0 to 15 cm; peat, 97 percent reddish yellow (7.5YR 7/6) dry, strong brown (7.5YR 5/6) moist, and 3 percent gray (10YR 5/1) dry, black (10YR 2/1) moist; many very fine and common medium and fine roots; extremely acid (pH 3.9); abrupt wavy boundary
Oe1--15 to 35 cm; mucky peat, reddish yellow (7.5YR 6/6) dry, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; many very fine and common medium and fine roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); clear wavy boundary
Oe2--35 to 42 cm; mucky peat, light brown (7.5YR 6/4) dry, brown (7.5YR 4/4) moist; many very fine roots and common fine roots; extremely acid (pH 4.4) wavy boundary
C/Oajj--42 to 60 cm; silt loam, 97 percent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist, and 3 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry, black (10YR 2/1) moist; few very fine irregular pores; massive; extremely firm, nonsticky, nonplastic; ; very strongly acid (pH 4.9)
C/Oajjf--60 to 150 cm; permanently frozen silt loam, 97 percent light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) dry, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist, and 3 percent dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry, black (10YR 2/1) moist; massive; extremely firm, nonsticky, nonplastic; ; very strongly acid (pH 4.9)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.8902210, degrees, longitude --160.3721870 degrees, datum WGS84 (Coordinates determined with a GPS unit)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature-- -2 to -1 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--saturated between 0 and 25 cm during the growing season (aquic moisture regime)
Thickness of combined organic layers--greater than 40 cm
Depth to permafrost contact--50 to 75
Depth to cryoturbation--0 to 30 cm
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--5 to 18 percent
Oi/Oajj horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--2.5 to 5 moist, 4 to 7 dry
Chroma--1 or 6
Reaction--3.9 to 4.6
Organic carbon content--35 to 55 percent
Rubbed fiber content--40 to 100 percent
Sodium pyrophosphate color value and chroma where rubbed fiber content is 40 to 75 percent--7/1, 7/2, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3
Thickness--10 to 30 cm
Oe1 and Oe2 horizons
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--2 to 4 moist, 4 to 6 dry
Chroma--1 to 4
Reaction--3.8 to 4.9
Organic carbon content--35 to 55 percent
Rubbed fiber content--17 to 75 percent
Sodium pyrophosphate color value and chroma where rubbed fiber content is 40 to 75 percent does not equal--7/1, 7/2, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3
Combined thickness--20 to 65 cm
C/Oajj horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--2.5 to 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma--1 to 6
Fine-earth texture--silt, silt loam
Clay--8 to 18 percent
Sand--5 to 40 percent
Organic carbon--7 to 12 percent
Reaction--4.7 to 5.7
Thickness--5 to 35 cm
C/Oajjf horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--2.5 to 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma--1 to 6
Fine-earth texture--permanently frozen silt, permanently frozen silt loam
Clay--8 to 18 percent
Sand--5 to 40 percent
Organic carbon--7 to 12 percent
Reaction--4.7 to 5.7
COMPETING SERIES: None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--0 to 350 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--350 to 550 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*
Sikinik--coarse fragments present, plains and toeslopes of hills
*
Nikaat--total thickness of organic layers less than 40 cm, plains and loess covered terraces
*
Runkelscreek--aquic conditions at the soil surface during all parts of the growing season, drainageways
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--poorly drained
*Saturation during normal years--saturated between a depth of 0 and 25 cm during the growing season
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--moderately high or high in the upper part of the profile, very low in the permafrost layer
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--reindeer lichen, tussock cottongrass marsh graygreen reindeer lichen, witch's hair lichen, marsh Labrador tea, Bigelow's sedge
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands, Alaska; MLRA 240; large 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 42 to 85 cm
*Thickness of organic soil material--42 cm
*Cryoturbation--zone from 0 to 15 cm and 42 to 150 cm
*Depth to permafrost--60 cm
*Depth to aquic conditions--0 cm (a positive reaction to alpha-alpha dipyridyl is assumed at this depth for at least two weeks during the growing season)
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.