LOCATION GOLDSTREAM AK
Established Series
Rev. JPM
05/2022
GOLDSTREAM SERIES
The Goldstream series consists of very poorly drained soils formed in silty alluvium and colluvium containing permafrost. Goldstream soils are on broad alluvial plains, valley bottoms, moraines, and in depressions on outwash plains. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 23 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 12 inches.
TAXONOMIC CLASS:
TYPICAL PEDON: Goldstream peat - on a 4 percent slope at 625 feet elevation under stunted black spruce with low shrubs, sedge tussocks, and moss. (All colors are for moist soil)
Oi--0 to 3 inches (0 to 8cm); dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) peat; extremely acid (pH 4.4); clear smooth boundary.
Oe--3 to 9 inches (8 to 23cm); black (10YR 2/1) mucky peat; extremely acid (pH 4.4); clear smooth boundary.
A--9 to 12 inches (23 to 30cm); very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) mucky silt loam; massive; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.7); gradual irregular boundary.
Bjjg/A--12 to 20 inches (30 to 50cm); gray (5Y 5/1) silt loam (Bjjg) and very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) mucky silt loam (A); structureless; friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; very strongly acid (pH 4.9); clear irregular boundary.
Cf--20 to 60 inches (50 to 152cm); gray (5Y 5/1) permanently frozen silt loam.
TYPE LOCATION: Greater Fairbanks Area, Alaska; NE, NW, Section 11, T.1N., R.3E., Fairbanks Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The histic epipedon ranges from 8 to 16 inches thick and may include part of the A horizon. The depth to permafrost ranges from 2 to 20 inches from the surface of the mineral soil. Cryoturbation is evident in some horizons above the permafrost table. Texture of the control section is silt loam or silt with thin lenses of fine sand scattered throughout. On a weighted average, the control section contains less than 18 percent clay and less than 15 percent fine sand or coarser. The entire profile contains substantial mica, but less than 40 percent by weight. Reaction is extremely to very strongly acid in the organic layers and very strongly to strongly acid in the mineral horizons.
The O horizons range from coarse organic matter with many living roots to moderately decomposed finely divided organic matter.
The A horizon has hue from 10YR to 5Y; value moist from 2 to 4; and chroma moist from 1 to 3. Texture is silt loam or mucky silt loam.
B horizons are present in some pedons.
The C horizons have hue from 10YR to 5Y; value moist from 3 to 5; and chroma moist from 0 to 3. Texture is silt loam or silt.
COMPETING SERIES: This is the
Saulich series in the same family. Saulich soils have pH greater than 5.5 (1:1; H2O) in at least part of the control section.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Goldstream soils occupy broad nearly level alluvial plains along major rivers, and the bottoms and footslopes of upland drainageways. The soils formed in silty alluvium that is moderately high in mica. The climate is cold continental. Mean annual temperatures range from 20 to 26 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation ranges from 10 to 14 inches. Slope ranges from 0 to 20 percent.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Bolio,
Jarvis,
Lemeta,
Salchaket, and
Tanana soils. Bolio and Lemeta soils are organic soils occurring in depressions on floodplains. Jarvis and Salchaket soils occur in similar positions but are well drained and lack permafrost. Tanana soils are poorly drained soils in similar positions and have thinner organic mats.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Slow runoff to ponded. Permeability is moderately rapid in the organic mat, moderate in the mineral layers above the permafrost, and impermeable in the permafrost.
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 level with subsequent lowering of the water table.
USE AND VEGETATION: Mainly in native vegetation which consists of sedge tussocks 12 to 18 inches in diameter and as much as 18 inches high, mosses, low-growing shrubs, willows, black spruce, and tamarack.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 231 Interior Alaska Highlands. The series is extensive.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Yukon-Tanana region, Alaska, 1914.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this profile include: histic epipedon from 8 inches to 0 in the organic mat and including the A horizon; permafrost at 17 inches with saturated conditions above; coarse-silty particle size from 0 to 27 inches; pH less than 5.5 (1:1, H2O) throughout.
Disturbance to the organic mat such as by buring or clearing will alter the thermal regime of the soil. Often, as a result, the permafrost and the water table will drop below the series control section.
Type location moved from the Salcha-Big Delta Area to the Greater Fairbanks Area.
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.