LOCATION HOLITNAFAMILY           AK

Tentative Series
Rev. JPM
02/2022

HOLITNAFAMILY SERIES

Note: Used as a placeholder series until a series is established under the family class
Depth class: Very deep
Drainage class: very poorly drained
Parent material: decomposing organic materials over loess and alluvium
Landform: depressions on hills, plains, and terraces
Slopes: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 16 inches
Mean annual temperature: about 29 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic Terric Cryofibrists

TYPICAL PEDON: Holitnafamily peat
Oi--0 to 43 inches (0 to 110 cm); yellowish brown (10YR 5/8) peat; many very fine and fine roots; few medium and coarse roots; few medium roots; extremely acid (pH 4.4); abrupt wavy boundary.
C--43 to 71 inches (110 to 180 cm); dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt; massive; friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; 10 percent brown (7.5YR 4/4) soft iron concentrations; few very fine, fine, medium, and coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.2).

TYPE LOCATION: Western Interior Rivers Soil Survey Area, Alaska; near Whitefish Lake; UTM north 6806332 and UTM east 464596, zone 4.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture regime: Aquic
Mean annual soil temperature: 32 to 34 degrees F
Thickness of organic materials: 28 to 63 inches
Depth to mineral soil layers: 28 to 63 inches

O horizons:
Matrix color: hue 7.5YR or 10YR, value 3 to 5, chroma 2 to 8
Texture: peat or mucky peat

C horizons:
Matrix color: hue 5Y, 2.5Y, or 10YR; value 3 to 5; chroma 1 or 2
Texture: silt, silt loam, mucky silt loam, or mucky fine sandy loam
Reaction Class: very strongly to slightly acid

COMPETING SERIES: These are no series in this family. When a series is established, this series placeholder will be dropped (see REMARKS).

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: Decomposing organic materials over loess and alluvium
Landform: Depressions on low hills, terraces, and plains
Slope: 0 to 2 percent
Mean annual temperature: 28 to 30 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 15 to 18 inches

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include Histic Cryaquepts and Fluvaquentic Cryaquepts on plain or slightly convex slopes of similar landforms.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Low runoff. Permeability is moderate.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used for subsistence and wildlife habitat. The native vegetation is typical of wet tundra.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229 - Interior Alaska Lowlands; MLRA 230 - Yukon-Kuskokwim Highlands; and MLRA 238- Yukon-Kuskokwim Coastal Plain, Alaska. The soil is extensive.

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

SERIES PROPOSED: The Western Interior Rivers Area, Alaska, 2007

REMARKS: This series is set-up as a placeholder to allow the use of a short family name. The range in characteristics is broader than a typical series and may even encompass the full range of the family. There are currently no series designated in this soil family.

Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include:
Histic epipedon dominated by peat: from 0 to 43 inches.
Mineral horizons: from 43 to 71 inches.
Temperature regime: Cryic
Moisture regime: Aquic
Reaction: less than 4.5 throughout organic layers

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.