LOCATION KANTISHNA               AK

Established Series
Rev. SR
05/2022

KANTISHNA SERIES

The Kantishna series consists of very poorly drained organic soils formed in floating fibrous peat in lakes. The soils are level. The mean annual temperature is about 27 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 15 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Dysic Hydric Cryofibrists

TYPICAL PEDON: Kantishna peat - level, ponded. (All colors are for wet soil)

Oi1--0 to 8 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/2) mat of slightly decomposed mosses and sedges; 90 percent fiber rubbed; many fine and medium roots; very strongly acid; clear smooth boundary.

Oi2--8 to 20 inches; dark reddish brown (5YR 3/3) sedge and moss peat; 90 percent fiber rubbed; few roots; very strongly acid; frozen until late summer; gradual boundary.

Oi3--20 to 60 inches; sparse fibrous peat in water; not sufficiently coherent for sampling and observation.


TYPE LOCATION: Totchaket Area, Alaska; NE 1/4 NE 1/4, section 19, T. 1S., R. 8W., Fairbanks Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the peat over water ranges from 16 inches to 40 inches. In some pedons, and in some years the peat immediately above open water is frozen throughout the summer.

COMPETING SERIES: There are no known competing series.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Kantishna soils occupy depressions in broad alluvial plains in interior and western Alaska. They are level, but scattered low peat mounds occur; the organic material in these mounds are perennially frozen below about 20 inches. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 24 to 30 degrees F., and the mean annual precipitation is 10 to 20 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Bradway, Goldstream, Inmachuk, Lemeta, and Volkmar soils. Bradway soils have stratified layers of sand and silt loam over permafrost. Goldstream soils have thick layers of organic material over silt loam and shallow permafrost. Inmachuk soils consist of fibrous sedge peat over ice-rich permafrost. Lemeta soils have a thick layer of Sphagnum moss peat over fibrous sedge peat and permafrost. Volkmar soils are on terraces and consist of mottled silt loam over a sandy or sandy-skeletal substratum. Open ponds are common within bodies of peat.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly drained. Ponded. Permeability is not applicable.

USE AND VEGETATION: The vegetation consists of mosses, sedges, and associated plants of marshes. The soils are suitable only for use by wildlife.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Moderately extensive in alluvial plains and basins in interior and western Alaska.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Totchaket Area, Alaska, 1978.

REMARKS: It is assumed that no permafrost exists at great depth, and that the mean annual temperature of the peat is higher than 0 degrees C. If this assumption is incorrect, the soil would be classified as a Pergelic Cryofibrist.

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE SOIL SURVEY
U.S.A.