LOCATION DADINA AK
Established Series
Rev. MHC/JPM
02/2022
DADINA SERIES
The Dadina series consists of very poorly and poorly drained soils formed in a thick organic mat overlying a thin loess mantle underlain by very gravelly alluvium and localized glacial outwash deposits. Permafrost occurs between a depth of 18 to 35 inches below the mineral soil surface. Dadina soils are on high stream terraces, broad lacustrine terraces, and glacial till plains. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 25 degrees F. and the average annual precipitation is about 12 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy-skeletal, mixed, subgelic Typic Historthels
TYPICAL PEDON: Dadina peat - on a 1 percent slope under black spruce forest at 1600 feet elevation. When described, the soil was wet.
Oi--10 to 4 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) peat consisting of slightly decomposed fibrous moss and root fibers; clear smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Oe--4 inches to 0; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) mucky peat consisting of partially decomposed root, moss, and twig fibers; abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
A--0 to 3 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist mucky silt loam; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many roots of all sizes; less than 5 percent gravel and cobble; slightly acid (pH 6.4); clear wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)
2C1--3 to 7 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and brown (10YR 4/3) moist very gravelly sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots; 45 percent gravel and 10 percent cobble; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)
2C2--7 to 22 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist very gravelly sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; 50 percent gravel and 5 percent cobble; water table at 16 inches; slightly acid (pH 6.4); abrupt wavy boundary. (8 to 16 inches thick)
2Cf--22 to 32 inches; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist very gravelly sand; 50 percent gravel and 5 percent cobble; frozen on September 9, 1982.
TYPE LOCATION: Copper River Area, Alaska; 9 miles southeast of Copper Center, 2300 feet north and 1600 feet west of the SE corner of section 28, T.2N., R.2W., Copper River Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The mean annual soil temperature is less than 32 degrees F. The mat of organic material consists of fibrous moss over partially decomposed moss, twigs, and root material 8 to 12 inches thick. Depth to permafrost is highly variable within short distances and ranges from 18 to 35 inches below the mineral soil surface 2 months after the summer solstice. Texture of the control section is sand with 45 to 70 percent coarse fragments. The mineral soil is slightly acid to mildly alkaline.
The A horizon has hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; moist value of 2, 3, or 4; and moist chroma of 2 or 3. Texture is commonly mucky silt loam, silt loam, or silt. Coarse fragment content ranges from 0 to 10 percent and includes well rounded gravel and cobble. This horizon is extremely thin in many profiles.
The 2C horizons have hue of 10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y; moist value of 4 or 5; and moist chroma of 2, 3 or 4. Texture is sand or loamy sand with 5 to 25 percent cobble and 40 to 65 percent gravel. In the Cf horizon, ice occurs in macropores between sand grains and coarse fragments. Massive ice wedges are present in a few pedons.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no known competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Dadina soils are formed in a thick organic mat over very gravelly alluvium on high stream terraces or over localized glacial outwash on broad lacustrine terraces and glacial till plains. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent and are typically plane to concave.
The climate is subarctic continental with long, cold winters and short, warm summers. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 8 to 17 inches and the mean annual snowfall ranges from 39 to 68 inches. Mean January temperature is minus 10 degrees F., mean July temperature is 56 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature ranges from 23 to 27 degrees F.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Klanelneechena,
Klawasi,
Pippin, and
Tolsona soils. Klanelneechena soils are in similar positions and have sandy control sections. Klawasi soils are on lacustrine terraces and have a thin loess mantle over a clayey substratum. Pippin soils are well drained and do not have permafrost or a histic epipedon. Tolsona soils are on glacial till plains and have loamy control sections.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly or poorly drained. Runoff is very slow. Permeability is moderately rapid in the organic mat, moderate in the loess mantle, and very rapid in the mineral horizons. Altered drainage occurs where the insulating organic mat is destroyed by fire or clearing. Loss of the organic mat results in lowering of the permafrost ost level with subsequent lowering of the water table. Texture and permeability of the thawed substratum is similar to that of the overlying layers.
USE AND VEGETATION: Dadina soils have native vegetation of black spruce and white spruce. The successional state of the vegetation in a given area is closely related to the fire history. This soil is used primarily for wildlife habitat.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Copper River Basin, Alaska. The series is of minor extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Copper River Area, Alaska. 1986. REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are: a histic epipedon from 10 to 0 inches; permafrost at 22 inches with saturated conditions above the permafrost; sandy-skeletal material from 10 to 32 inches.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.