LOCATION GOLDCOAST AK
Established Series
MPS/SAS
05/2022
GOLDCOAST SERIES
Landscape--valleys
Landform--terraces
Microfeature--earth hummock
Slope--0 to 3 percent
Parent material--loamy cyroturbate over gravelly alluvium
Mean annual precipitation--about 500 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--udic
Soil temperature regime--gelic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic, acid, subgelic Turbic Humigelepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Goldcoast silt loam on a northeast facing linear, linear floodplain, on a slope of 2 percent at an elevation of 169 m (The soil was moist throughout when described on June 6, 2018.)
Oe--0 to 6 cm; moderately decomposed plant material, brown (7.5YR 5/2) dry, dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) moist; many very fine and common medium and fine roots; extremely acid (pH 4.3); abrupt smooth boundary
A--6 to 32 cm; silt loam, 90 percent brown (7.5YR 4/3) and 10 percent dark gray (5YR 4/1) dry, 90 percent very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/3) and 10 percent black (5YR 2.5/1) moist; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and common fine, medium, and coarse roots; strongly acid (pH 5.3); abrupt wavy boundary
Bwjj/A--32 to 59 cm; silt loam, 80 percent pale brown (10YR 6/3) and 10 percent light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) and 10 percent brown (7.5YR 5/3) dry, 80 percent brown (10YR 4/3) and 10 percent dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) and 10 percent dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; weak very thin platy structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; many very fine and common fine roots; few fine tubular pores; 5 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.6); abrupt wavy boundary
2C--59 to 150 cm; extremely gravelly silt loam, light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/3) dry, olive brown (2.5Y 4/3) moist; single grain; nonsticky, nonplastic; 25 percent fine gravel, 35 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.7)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.6659890 longitude -160.5810200 degrees, datum WGS84 (Coordinates determined with a GPS unit)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature-- -1 to 0 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--dry less than 45 consecutive days in June through October
Thickness of umbric epipedon--18 to 35 cm
Thickness of cambic horizon--15 to 45 cm
Thickness of cryoturbation--25 to 35 cm
Depth to gelic materials--22 to 40 cm
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--8 to 16 percent
*Total fragments--45 to 70 percent gravels, cobbles
*Sodium fluoride pH--8.4 to 11.6
*Ratio of 1500 kPa water to measured clay--0.6 to 6.0
Oe horizon
Thickness--4 to 10 cm
A horizon
Hue--5YR, 7.5YR, or 10YR
Value--2 to 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry
Chroma--1 to 3
Clay--3 to 12 percent
Sand--10 to 35 percent
Organic carbon--5 to 12 percent
Reaction--4.9 to 6.5
Thickness--5 to 30 cm
Bwjj/A horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--3 or 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma--3 to 5
Clay--5 to 13 percent
Sand--15 to 35 percent
Organic carbon--5 to 8 percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 10 percent gravel
Reaction--4.6 to 5.7
Thickness--15 to 40 cm
2C horizon
Hue--10YR, 2.5Y, or 5Y
Chroma--2 to 4
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, sandy loam
Clay--10 to 18 percent
Sand--14 to 60 percent
Organic carbon--1 to 2 percent
Total rock fragment content--45 to 70 percent
Total gravel content--50 to 65 percent
Total cobble content--0 to 15 percent
Reaction--5.6 to 6.9
COMPETING SERIES:
*
Bonasila--pH does not range above 6.2, coarse fragment content ranges to 80 percent, textures range to loam and sandy loam, coarse loamy colluvium over gravelly alluvium; hillslopes and mountain slopes
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--50 to 350 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--385 to 525 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*
Sprucecreek--folistic epipedon, sandy skeletal, no gelic materials, cryic soil temperature regime; terraces
*
Southriver--sandy skeletal, no gelic materials, cryic temperature regime; floodplain
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--well drained
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--very high in the surface organic layer, moderately high in the loamy alluvium, high to moderately high in the gravelly alluvium
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--tall bluebells, reindeer lichen, cup lichen, star reindeer lichen, Altai fescue, shrubby cinquefoil, tealeaf willow, resin birch, black crowberry, Bebb willow, lingonberry, white spruce, Moss, splendid feather moss, Schreber's big red stem moss, polytrichum moss. ptilium moss, Bigelow's sedge, bluejoint, dwarf birch, bog blueberry, greygreen reindeer lichen, marsh Labrador tea, golden asahinea lichen, alpine azalea, sphagnum, capiate valerian
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 31 to 106 cm
*Umbric epipedon--zone from 6 to 32 cm
*Cambic Horizon--zone from 32 to 59 cm
*Cryoturbation--zone from 32 to 59 cm
*Lithological discontinuity--zone from 59 to 150 cm
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.