LOCATION COVILLE                 AK

Tentative Series
Rev. TJS-SR
02/2022

COVILLE SERIES

The Coville series consists principally of essentially unaltered glacial till.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, calcareous Typic Cryorthents

TYPICAL PEDON: Coville very gravelly silt loam - forest. (Colors are for moist conditions.)

Oi--3 inches to 0; decomposed litter derived from alder, conifers, and understory plants; abrupt smooth boundary.

C1--0 to 1 inch; dark gray (10YR 4/1) very gravelly silt loam; massive; friable; many fine to medium roots; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundary.

C2--1 to 21 inches; dark gray (N 4/) very gravelly and stony silt loam; massive; friable when disturbed; roots common to few; calcareous.

TYPE LOCATION: Upper Prince William Sound Area, Alaska. East side of Barry Arm, SW1/4 NE1/4, sec. 24, T.12N., R.7E., Seward Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: A thin A1 horizon with values of 2 or 3 and chromas of 1 or 2 may occur. An incipient thin spodic horizon exists in some pedons. Textures of the upper horizon range from very gravelly silt loam to coarse sand. Textures in the underlying horizons range from very gravelly sandy loam to very gravelly silt loam.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Olnes (T) series. The Olnes soils are formed in thin loess over weathered schist and are not calcareous.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Coville soils occupy nearly level to very steep moraines adjacent to receding glaciers. The climate is cool maritime with mean annual precipitation of more than 80 inches. The mean annual air temperature is about 41 degrees F, and the mean summer air temperature is about 52 degrees F. The mean annual soil temperature is about 35 degrees F, and mean summer soil temperature at a depth of 3 inches is about 39 degrees F. The soils are seldom frozen.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained. Permeability is moderate.

USE AND VEGETATION: The Coville soils are useful for wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and recreation. Vegetation consists dominantly of an overstory of alder and willow and an understory of mosses, ferns, and shrubs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Recently exposed glacial till in southcentral and southeastern Alaska. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES PROPOSED: Upper Prince William Sound Area, Alaska, 1974. Name is from Mt. Coville in the Chugach Mountains.

REMARKS: Coville series has not been revised since 1974. It was proposed from an uncorrelated "remote" survey. More data is needed to define the series concept (jpm, 2/89).

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.