LOCATION CRANBERRYSLOUGH AK
Established Series
SAS/MPS
02/2022
CRANBERRYSLOUGH SERIES
Landscape--hills
Landform--hillslope, saddle
Microfeature--mounds
Slope--1 to 33 percent
Parent material--mossy organic material over colluvium
Mean annual precipitation--about 320 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep (shallow to permafrost)
Drainage class--poorly drained
Soil moisture regime--aquic
Soil temperature regime--gelic
Soil moisture subclass-typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid, subgelic Typic Historthels
TYPICAL PEDON: Cranberryslough peat on a northwest facing linear, concave shoulder on a slope of 9 percent at an elevation of 142 m (The soil was moist from 0 to 20 cm and wet, non-satiated, from 20 to 38 cm, and wet, satiated, from 38 to 150 cm when described on August 24, 2019.)
Oi--0 to 20 cm; peat, 50 percent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and 50 percent brown (7.5YR 4/3) dry, 50 percent very dark brown (10YR 2/2) and 50 percent very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/3) moist; many very fine and fine roots throughout; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); clear smooth boundary
Oe--20 to 38 cm; mucky peat, brown (7.5YR 4/3) dry, very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/3) moist; many very fine and few fine roots throughout; strongly acid (pH 5.2); clear smooth boundary
Cg--38 to 75 cm; clay loam, gray (5Y 6/1) broken face dry, dark gray (5Y 4/1) oxidized and dark gray (N 4/), broken face moist; massive; firm, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; nonsmeary; many very fine and common fine roots throughout; fine tubular pores; 1 percent medium irregular dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron; 10 percent subangular gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.6); abrupt smooth boundary
Cf--75 to 150 cm; permanently frozen silt loam, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; massive; very firm, slightly sticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; 5 percent subangular gravel; 60% thick ice lenses; moderately acid (pH 5.7)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.9257024 longitude -160.7506424 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 at a depth of between 0 and 25 cm during the growing season (aquic moisture regime)
Thickness of histic epipedon--20 to 40 cm
Depth to permafrost contact--70 to 100 cm
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--18 to 30 percent
*Total rock fragment content--5 to 30 percent gravel
Oi horizon
Thickness--10 to 30 cm
Oe horizon
Thickness--8 to 18 cm
Cg horizon
Hue--5Y or N
Value--4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma--0 or 1
Fine-earth texture--loam, clay loam, silt loam
Clay--15 to 30 percent
Sand--10 to 45 percent
Organic carbon--1 to 3 percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 20 percent gravel
Reaction--5.1 to 6.0
Thickness--10 to 35 cm
Cf horizon
Hue--10YR or 2.5Y
Value--4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma--3 or 4
Fine-earth texture--permanently frozen loam, permanently frozen silt loam, permanently frozen sandy clay loam
Clay--18 to 30 percent
Sand--25 to 65 percent
Organic carbon--.5 to 1 percent
Total rock fragment content--5 to 30 percent gravel
Reaction--5.2 to 6.5
COMPETING SERIES: None
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--20 to 270 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--300 to 420 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*
Teacreek--ochric epipedon, cambic horizon, clay ranges to 22 percent, coarse fragments range above 35 percent; hillslopes
*
Nikaat--cryoturbation present, clay ranges 8 to 18 percent; loess covered terraces
*
Springcamp--umbric epipedon, clay does not range above 20 percent; coarse fragments range above 35 percent; hillslopes
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--poorly drained
*Saturation during normal years--saturated at a depth between of 0 and 25 cm to the top of the permafrost during all months
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--high in the histic epipedon, moderately high or high in the unfrozen mineral soil layers, very low in the permafrost layer
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--tussock cottongrass, Bigelow's sedge, lingonberry, marsh Labrador tea,dwarf birch, bog blueberry, black crowberry, greygreen reindeer lichen, reindeer lichen, star reindeer lichen, sphagnum, cloudberry,
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands, Alaska; MLRA 240; small 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 63 to 138 cm
*Histic epipedon--zone from 0 to 38 cm
*Aquic conditions--zone from 0 to 75 cm
*Reduced matrix--zone from 38 to 75 cm
*Redoximorphic concentrations--zone from 38 to 75 cm
*Depth to permafrost--75 cm
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.