LOCATION KALSIN                  AK

Established Series
Rev. SR
05/2022

KALSIN SERIES

The Kalsin series consists of deep, poorly drained soils formed in volcanic ash overlying ashy alluvium which is underlain by sand and gravel. Kalsin soils are on floodplains. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 40 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 60 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Vitrandic Dystrocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Kalsin silt loam -- under native grass. (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi--1 inch to 0; dark brown (10YR 3/3) thin root mat underlain by mixture of roots and silty material; silty material has very fine granular structure; friable; very strongly to strongly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)

C1--0 to 1 1/2 inches; light gray (10YR 7/1) silt loam volcanic ash; massive; firm in place; few roots; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 2 inches thick)

C2--1 1/2 to 5 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) silt loam volcanic ash; massive; firm in place; few roots; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)

C3--5 to 8 inches; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) loamy fine sand volcanic ash; mottled with yellowish red; single grained; loose; few roots; strongly acid; clear wavy boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)

C4--8 to 11 inches; grayish brown (10YR 5/2) fine sand volcanic ash; mottled with yellowish red; single grained; loose; few roots; very strongly to strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 4 inches thick)

2Ab1--11 to 25 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silt loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable; smeary; few roots; very strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.

2Ab2--25 to 31 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) very fine sandy loam; massive; friable; few roots; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (combined thickness of buried horizons: 15 to 40 inches)

3C--31 to 60 inches; coarse sand and gravel.



TYPE LOCATION: Northeastern Kodiak Island Area, Alaska. Pasagshak Bay Road, 1.9 miles south of junction with Chiniak Cape Road at Kalsin Bay.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of recent volcanic ash ranges from 9 to 24 inches. Texture of the uppermost layer ranges from silt loam to loamy fine sand. In places, a thin recent deposit of alluvial silt overlies the ash. The buried layer of silty or very fine sandy alluvium ranges in thickness from 15 to more than 40 inches; usually it is 20 to 27 inches thick. Thin sandy or fine gravelly lenses may be present.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Olds and Salonie series in the same family. Olds soils contain buried O horizons and have greater than 18 percent clay in the upper control section. Salonie soils have buried alluvial layers less than 15 inches thick.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kalsin soils are on higher portions of floodplains.Kalsin soils formed in ash influenced alluvium which has been buried by volcanic ash. The climate is cool maritime. Average annual precipitation ranges from 50 to 70 inches, and the average annual temperature is about 40 degrees F. Temperatures below freezing are recorded on fewer than 40 days annually, and temperatures above 70 degrees F. are rare.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Olds and Salonie series and the Kizhuyak, Kodiak, and Sharatin series. The Kizhuyak series consist of thick alluvial accumulations of volcanic ash. Kodiak soils have, under the recent volcanic ash deposit, dark reddish brown A horizons formed in older volcanic ash over glacial till. The Sharatin soils are like the Kodiak soils except that the buried solum overlies glacial outwash rather than till.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Poorly drained. Some pedons have altered drainage due to stream incisement. Permeability is moderate over very rapid. Runoff is slow.

USE AND VEGETATION: Used mostly for grazing. Native grasses are cut in places for hay and silage. Few gardens and seeded hayfields. The native vegetation is tall grass, dominated by bluejoint reedgrass, and associated plants such as fireweed. In a few places, the soil supports stands of cottonwood and willows.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern Kodiak Island, Alaska, and adjacent islands. The series is of moderate extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Northeastern Kodiak Island Area, Alaska, 1959.

REMARKS: The concept of the Kalsin series is poorly defined. More data is needed to define the concept or the series should be inactivated (jpm, 4/87).

Source of the volcanic ash is the 1912 eruption of Mt. Novarupta and Mt. Katmai on the Alaska Peninsula.

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.