LOCATION BOLIO AK
Established Series
Rev. SR-JPM
02/2022
BOLIO SERIES
The Bolio series consists of very poorly drained, partially decomposed organic soils derived mostly from sedges in depressions in uplands and terraces. Bolio soils are perennially frozen at some depth. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 27 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 12 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Euic, subgelic Typic Hemistels
TYPICAL PEDON: Bolio peat - nearly level slope in a slight depression on a low terrace. (All colors are for moist soil)
Oi--0 to 3 inches; dusky red (2.5YR 3/2) peat; mat of undecomposed plant parts and living roots; 100 percent fiber rubbed; many roots; loose; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oe--3 to 8 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1, broken face and rubbed) to dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2, pressed) mucky peat; 60 percent fiber, 20 percent rubbed; thin platy structure; nonsticky and slightly plastic; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary.
Oef--8 to 20 inches; black (5YR 2.5/1, broken face and rubbed) to dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2, pressed) permanently frozen mucky peat; 50 percent fiber, 20 percent rubbed; extremely acid; frozen in midsummer.
TYPE LOCATION: Totchaket Area, Alaska; SW 1/4 SW 1/4, section 16, T. 2S., R. 10W., Fairbanks Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: A layer of Sphagnum moss less than 12 inches thick occurs at the surface of the peat in some pedons. Depth to permafrost ranges from 6 inches to more than 40 inches, depending on the density of vegetation and thickness of the surface mat of undecomposed peat. A silty or sandy mineral substratum often occurs at a depth of 40 to 60 inches. Reaction ranges from extremely acid to moderately acid.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Wrangell series. Wrangell soils have pH greater than 4.5 (0.01M CaCl2) within the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bolio soils are in slight depressions or naturally drained lake basins in uplands and terraces. They are nearly level. The mean annual temperature ranges from 24 degrees to 30 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 10 to 15 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Nenana,
Tanana,
Toklat, and
Volkmar soils. Nenana soils occupy adjoining uplands, and have a brown cambic horizon and a sandy or sandy-skeletal substratum without permafrost. Tanana soils occupy low terraces and high bottoms, and have a thin organic horizon over silty gleyed soils with permafrost. Toklat soils are slightly higher than the Bolio soils, and have a thick albic horizon over a cemented spodic horizon. Volkmar soils are in swales in uplands and have a thin organic horizon over mottled silty loam and a sandy or sandy-skeletal substratum.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Slow to ponded runoff. Moderate saturated hydraulic conductivity above the permafrost, impermeable in the permafrost..
USE AND VEGETATION: The vegetation is sedge tussocks, low shrubs, stunted tamarack and black spruce, and mosses. The soil can be used for native pasture or, in some places, wild hay, but normally cannot be artificially drained for crops.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229 Interior Alaska Lowlands. The soils are of moderate extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Totchaket Area, Alaska, 1978.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this profile include: hemic materials from 3 to 20 inches; permafrost at 20 inches; pH greater than 4.5 (0.01M CaCl2) in the organic materials in the control section.
The Bolio soils were correlated as a member of the Local Alluvial Land and Peat mapping unit in the Salcha - Big Delta soil survey (1973).
The Bolio series originally classified in the dysic reaction class. The expanded control section now in use captures the increase in pH with depth and the series now classifies as euic.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.