LOCATION BUTCHLAKE               AK

Established Series
Rev. TLP/JBS/DLM
02/2022

BUTCHLAKE SERIES

Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: loess over till
Landform: glacial hills
Slopes: 0 to 80 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 13 inches, 330 mm
Mean annual temperature: about 26 degrees F., -3.3 C,

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Butchlake silt loam - on a slope of 5 percent under open black spruce forest with scrub birch and lichen understory at 1850 feet elevation. (All colors are for moist soil unless noted)

Oi--0 to 3 inches (0 to 8 cm); dark brown (7.5YR 3/2); slightly decomposed plant material; many very fine to coarse roots; extremely acid (pH 4.2); clear smooth boundary (1 to 5 inches thick).

A--3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm); very dark brown (10YR 2/2); mucky silt loam; weak fine granular structure; friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; 10 percent cobbles; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); clear smooth boundary (1 to 6 inches thick).

Bw/2Bw--4 to 9 inches (10 to 23 cm); dark brown (7.5YR3/4) cobbly sandy loam and dark yellowish brown extremely gravelly coarse sandy loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure; friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; 60 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.6); clear wavy boundary (3 to 7 inches thick).

2BC--9 to 23 inches (23 to 58 cm); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); very cobbly sandy loam; weak fine angular blocky structure; friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; 30 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.6); diffuse smooth boundary (12 to 20 inches thick).

2C--23 to 60 inches (58 to 152 cm); dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4); extremely gravelly sandy loam; massive; friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; 50 percent gravel and 20 percent cobbles; moderately acid (pH 5.6)

TYPE LOCATION: Fort Greely Soil Survey Area, Alaska; about 1 mile west of Richardson Highway; in the NE 1/4 of the NW 1/4, section 22, T. 12S, R. 10E; Mt. Hayes (D-4) 1:25,000 quad; Fairbanks Meridian; UTM north 7082187 and UTM east 560423, zone 6.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Mean annual soil temperature: about 33 degrees F., 0.5 C.
Thickness of organic materials: 0 to 6 inches, 0 to 15 cm
Depth to till: 0 to 16 inches, 0 to 15 cm
Particle size control section:
Clay content: 0 to 10 percent
Coarse fragment content: 35 to 80 percent


Oi horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 5YR or 10YR; value of 2 to 4; chroma of 1 or 2
Reaction class: extremely acid to moderately acid

A horizon (where present):
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 10YR; value of 2 or 3; chroma of 2 or 3
Texture: silt loam, or mucky silt loam
Coarse fragments: 0 to 10 percent cobbles
Reaction class: very strongly acid to moderately acid

Bw/2Bw horizons:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 10YR; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 3 to 6
Texture: loam or sandy loam modified by 15 to 80 percent coarse fragments, 10 to 80 percent gravel, 5 to 25 percent cobbles
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid

2BC horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 10YR; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 3 to 6
Texture: sandy loam modified by 15 to 80 percent coarse fragments, 10 to 80 percent gravel, 5 to 25 percent cobbles
Reaction class: strongly acid or slightly acid

2C horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR or 2.5Y; value of 4 or 5; chroma of 4 to 6
Texture: sandy loam or loamy sand modified by 35 to 80 percent coarse fragments, 15 to 80 percent gravel, 0 to 25 percent cobbles
Reaction class: strongly acid to moderately acid

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Basaltlake, Cuberant, Enentah, Garlet, Gromes, Soakpak, Storm, Targhee, and Telay series. Cuberant, Firada, Targhee soils are moderately deep to bedrock. Butchlake soils have buried A horizons and mottles in the substratum. Enentah soils are somewhat excessively drained. Garlet soils are calcareous in the substratum. Gromes and Storm soils have greater than 10 percent clay in the particle size control section. Soakpak soils have a mean annual soil temperature less than 32 degrees F. Telay soils have a presummed cooler mean summer soil temperature.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess over till
Landform: glacial hills
Slope: 0 to 30 percent
Mean annual temperature: 24 to 28 degrees F., -4.4 to -2.2 C.
Mean annual precipitation: 12 to 15 inches, 305 to 381 mm.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Nomercy Lake and Southpaw series. Nomercy Lake soils have a pergelic temperature regime. Southpaw has a thicker loess mantle and fewer coarse fragments in the control section.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, moderate runoff. Permeability is moderate in the loamy surface soil, moderately rapid in the very gravelly subsoil.

USE AND VEGETATION: The native vegetation includes black spruce forest with scrub birch and lichen understory.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 228, Interior Alaska Mountains, The series is of moderate extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Fort Greely Soil Survey, Alaska, 2002

REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include:
Ochric Epipedon: from 0 to 4 inches, 0 to 10 cm
Temperature regime: Cryic
Moisture regime: Udic

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.