LOCATION KIMIGAAK                AK

Tentative Series
MPS
10/2024

KIMIGAAK SERIES

Depth class: moderately deep to lithic bedrock
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: gravelly loamy residuum weathered from volcanic rock
Landscape: hills
Landform: ridges
Microfeature: nonsorted circles, when present
Slopes: 0 to 25 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 400 mm (15.7 in)
Mean annual air temperature: about -4 degrees C. (25 degrees F.)
Frost-free period: 70 to 90 days

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, isotic Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Kimigaak gravelly medial coarse sandy loam in a dryas alpine scrubland community on an east facing convex, convex summit on a slope of 21 percent at an elevation of 282m (925 ft)

Oe--0 to 3 cm (0 to 1 in); moderately decomposed plant material; black (10YR 2/1) broken face moist, dark gray (10YR 4/1) broken face dry; many very fine roots and common fine roots throughout; 5 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.9); clear smooth boundary. (0 to 4 cm, 0 to 2 in thick)

A--3 to 16 cm (1 to 6 in); gravelly medial coarse sandy loam; dark brown (10YR 3/3) broken face moist, brown (10YR 5/3) broken face dry; weak medium subangular blocky parts to weak fine granular structure; friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; moderately smeary; many very fine roots and common fine roots throughout; many very fine dendritic tubular pores; 5 percent cobbles, 25 percent gravel; noneffervescent by HCL, 1n; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary. (4 to 17 cm, 2 to 7 in thick)

Bw--16 to 70 cm (6 to 28 in); extremely gravelly coarse sandy loam; brown (10YR 4/3) broken face moist, pale brown (10YR 6/3) broken face dry; weak medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; weakly smeary; common fine roots throughout; many fine dendritic tubular pores; 25 percent cobbles, 40 percent gravel; noneffervescent by HCL; moderately acid (pH 5.9); gradual irregular boundary. (20 to 60 cm, 8 to 24 in thick)

R--70 to 95 cm (27.6 to 37.4 in); strongly coherent to indurated volcanic bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Nulato Hills - Continental Divide and Blackburn Hills Soil Survey Area, Alaska; latitude 64.6106770, longitude -160.7147330, datum WGS84, UTM north 7166175.47 and UTM east 417971.68, zone 4, datum WGS84.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:

Soil moisture regime: udic
Soil temperature regime: cryic
Mean annual soil temperature: 0 to 3 degrees C. (32 to 37 degrees F.)
Thickness of organic material: 0 to 4 cm (0 to 2 in)
Thickness of ochric epipedon: 4 to 21 cm (2 to 8 in)
Thickness of cambic horizon: 20 to 60 cm (8 to 24 in)
Thickness of andic soil properties: 4 to 17 cm (2 to 7 in)
Depth to lithic contact: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in)

Oe horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 or 2.5 moist, 4 dry
Chroma: 1 or 2
Texture: moderately decomposed material
Rock fragments: 0 to 20 percent
Organic matter: 60 to 90 percent
Reaction class: strongly acid to moderately acid (pH 5.1 to 6)

A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 to 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam, coarse sandy loam or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 25 to 65 percent
Silt: 25 to 71 percent
Clay: 4 to 10 percent
Rock fragments: 15 to 40 percent
Gravels: 15 to 40 percent
Cobbles: 0 to 10 percent
Organic matter: 2 to 6 percent
Bulk density: 0.5 to 0.9 g/cm3
Al plus 1/2 Fe: 2 to 4 percent
Volcanic glass content: 0 to 20 percent
Phosphorous retention: 85 to 100 percent
Reaction class: strongly acid to moderately acid (pH 5.1 to 6)

Bw horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 3 or 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma: 3 or 4
Texture: sandy loam, coarse sandy loam, loam or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 36 to 65 percent
Silt: 21 to 50 percent
Clay: 5 to 14 percent
Rock fragments: 60 to 85 percent
Gravels: 30 to 70 percent
Cobbles: 5 to 30 percent
Organic matter: 1 to 4 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)

R horizon
Strongly coherent to indurated volcanic bedrock.

Some pedons have a lithic contact at depths between 40 to 50 cm.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Nautchiak (AK) series.
Nautchiak soils lack a lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), lack andic soil properties, have clay ranging up to 25 percent in the substratum

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation: 100 to 300 meters (330 to 985 feet)
Parent material: gravelly loamy residuum weathered from volcanic rock
Landform: ridges
Slopes: 0 to 25 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 300 to 500 mm (12 to 20 in)
Mean annual air temperature: -6 to 1 degrees C. (21 to 34 degrees F.)
Frost free period: 70 to 90 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Apun, Iksrukkaa, Nunanjiak, Sikuruk, Tui, and Urgiilik soils.
Apun soils have aquic conditions starting between 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in), have permafrost, have a histic epipedon, have cryoturbation, have a reduced matrix with 50 cm (20 in), lack a cambic horizon, lack andic soil properties, and occur on footslopes or saddles of hills and mountains or terraces of river valleys
Iksrukkaa soils have paralithic contact at depths between 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in), have a folistic epipedon, lack a cambic horizon, lack andic soil properties, and occur on backslopes and shoulders
Nunanjiak soils have paralithic contact at depths between 100 to 150 cm (40 to 60 cm), have a folistic epipedon, have an umbric epipedon, can have spodic materials, have a medial over loamy-skeletal particle size class, and occur on head slopes and mountainflanks, center third
Sikuruk soils have aquic conditions starting between 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in), have permafrost, have a reduced matrix starting within 50 cm (20 in), have a gelic soil temperature regime, lack a cambic horizon, lack andic soil properties, and occur on mountainflanks, lower third
Tui soils lack lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), lack andic soil properties, have a mixed mineralogy class, and occur on nose slopes and mountainflanks
Urgiilik soils lack andic soil properties, have a mixed mineralogy class, and occur on backslopes and mountainflanks, center third

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
Drainage class: well drained
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: very high in the Oe horizon, moderately high to very high in the A and Bw horizons
Permeability: very rapid in the Oe horizon, moderate to very rapid in the A horizon, and moderate to rapid in the Bw horizon
Runoff: high

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use: wildlife habitat, recreation, and subsistence
Native vegetation: eightpetal mountain-avens, cup lichen, foliose lichen, Bering Sea sedge, felt lichen, witch's hair lichen, Fries' pussytoes, alpine sweetgrass, snow arnica, golden asahinea lichen, bryocaulon lichen, arctic woodrush, arctic stitchwort, blackish oxytrope, crustose lichen

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 240, Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands. The series is of small extent.

SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: Wasilla, Alaska

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nulato Hills - Continental Divide and Blackburn Hills Soil Survey, Alaska, 2024.

REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include:

Particle-size control section: 28 to 70 cm (11 to 28 in)

Ochric epipedon: 0 to 16 cm (0 to 6 in) (Oe and A horizons)

Andic soil properties: 3 to 16 cm (1 to 6 in) (A horizon)

Cambic horizon: 16 to 70 cm (6 to 28 in) (Bw horizon)

Lithic contact: 70 to 95 cm (28 to 37 in) (R horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA:

User pedon ID: 2023AK180338

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.