LOCATION KEBA                    AK

Established Series
Rev. MHC/JPM
05/2022

KEBA SERIES

The Keba series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in a mantle of loess overlying firm loamy glacial till and lacustrine deposits on glacial till plains. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. The mean annual temperature is about 35 degrees F. and the mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-loamy, mixed, semiactive Typic Haplocryods

TYPICAL PEDON: Keba silt loam - on a southeast facing slope of 3 percent at 200 feet elevation under paper birch forest vegetation. (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi--1 inch to 0; dusky red (2.5YR 3/2) fibrous undecomposed moss andfores litter. (1 to 4 inches thick)

E--0 to 2 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; many roots of all sizes; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 3 inches thick)

Bs--2 to 6 inches; reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4) and brown (7.5YR 4/4) silt loam; weak fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common very fine and fine and few medium roots; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 8 inches thick)

2BC--6 to 10 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) gravelly silty clay loam; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, sticky and plastic; 15 percent subrounded gravel and occasional subrounded cobble; moderately acid (pH 6.0); gradual wavy boundary. (0 to 8 inches thick)

2C1--10 to 21 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) gravelly silty clay loam; massive; friable, sticky and plastic; 15 percent subrounded gravel and occasional subrounded cobble; slightly acid (pH 6.2); diffuse wavy boundary. (10 to 50 inches thick)

2C2--21 to 60 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) loam; massive; firm, sticky and plastic; 10 percent subrounded gravel and occasional subrounded cobble; slightly acid (pH 6.4).

TYPE LOCATION: Matanuska-Susitna Area, Alaska, about 3 miles south of Houston; about 600 feet S. and 500 feet W. of the NE corner of section 7, T.16N., R.4W., Seward Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Thickness of the silty loess mantle ranges from 4 to 10 inches. The solum ranges in thickness from 4 to 15 inches and may contain buried horizons. The particle-size control section has greater than 18 percent clay and averages 5 to 20 percent coarse fragments. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to strongly acid in the solum and moderately acid to neutral in the substratum.

The E and Eb horizons have moist hue from 10YR through 5Y, moist value from 3 through 5 and moist chroma from 1 through 3.

The Bs and Bsb horizons have moist hue from 2.5YR through 7.5YR, moist value from 3 through 5 and moist chroma from 4 through 6.

The 2BC horizon, when present, has moist hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, moist value of 3 or 4 and moist chroma from 4 through 6. Texture is clay loam, silty clay loam or loam.

The 2C horizons have moist hue from 10YR through 5Y, moist value of 3 or 4 and moist chroma from 2 through 6. Texture is silty clay loam, clay loam or loam. Coarse fragment content ranges from 5 to 20 percent.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Wollard series in the same family. Wollard soils have paralithic glacial till within 20 to 40 inches of the surface.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Keba soils are on glacial till plains and hillslopes. Slopes range from 0 to 20 percent. The soils formed in a loess mantle consisting of an admixture of amorphous material of volcanic origin and airborne sediments from broad nonvegetated flood plains. The loess mantle is underlain by firm, loamy lacustrine andglacial t ll material. The climate is transitional maritime - continental. Mean annual temperature is about 35 degrees F. Mean annual precipitation is about 18 inches.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Slow to rapid runoff. Moderate permeability in the loess mantle, moderately slow or slow below.

USE AND VEGETATION: Wildlife habitat, agriculture and urban uses. Native vegetation includes paper birch, white spruce, quaking aspen, bluejoint grass and low shrubs.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southcentral Alaska. The series is of minor extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Matanuska-Susitna Soil Survey, Alaska, 1996.

REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include: albic horizon at 0 to 2 inches; spodic horizon at 2 to 6 inches; fine-loamy particle-size from 6 to 60 inches; cryic temperature regime.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.