LOCATION KUNJIK                  AK

Established Series
MJS/MPS
11/2024

KUNJIK SERIES

Depth class: moderately deep to lithic bedrock
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: loess over gravelly loamy residuum weathered from slate
Landscape: mountains
Landform: ridges
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 400 mm (16 in)
Mean annual air temperature: about -4 degrees C. (25 degrees F.)
Frost-free period: 70 to 85 days

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal over fragmental, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Kunjik silt loam in a dryas lichen alpine dwarf scrubland community on an east facing linear, linear summit on a slope of 2 percent at an elevation of 448m (1470 ft)

Oe--0 to 2 cm (0 to 1 in); moderately decomposed plant material; dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist, brown (7.5YR 5/3) dry; many very fine and common fine roots; 5 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 4 cm, 0.5 to 2 in thick)

A--2 to 8 cm (1 to 3 in); silt loam; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) moist, grayish brown (10YR 5/2) dry; moderate medium subangular blocky structure; friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; common very fine and fine roots; common very fine irregular pores; 5 percent gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.2); clear smooth boundary. (1 to 8 cm, 0.5 to 3 in thick)

Bw--8 to 30 cm (3 to 12 in); loam; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; 5 percent distinct irregular gray (10YR 5/1) mottles; moderate medium subangular blocky parts to strong medium granular structure; friable, slightly hard, , nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; common fine irregular pores; 5 percent prominent yellowish red (5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron; 10 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear smooth boundary. (15 to 50 cm, 6 to 20 in thick)

2C1--30 to 65 cm (12 to 26 in); very gravelly loam; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) moist, light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) dry; massive; friable, slightly hard, nonsticky, nonplastic; nonsmeary; few fine irregular pores; 50 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary. (20 to 40 cm, 8 to 16 in thick)

2C2--65 to 80 cm (26 to 32 in); cobbles; many very fine, common medium and fine interstitial pores; 95 percent cobbles. (10 to 30 cm, 4 to 12 in thick)

2R--80 to 105 cm (32 to 41 in); indurated slate bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Nulato Hills - Continental Divide and Blackburn Hills Soil Survey Area, Alaska; latitude 64.5016798, longitude -160.3138383, datum WGS84, UTM north 7153572.77 and UTM east 436895.48, 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: 1 to 4 cm (0.5 to 2 in)
Thickness of ochric epipedon: 2 to 12 cm (1 to 5 in)
Thickness of cambic horizon: 16 to 58 cm (6 to 23 in)
Depth to redoximorphic concentrations: 2 to 14 cm (1 to 6 in)
Depth to lithic contact: 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in)

Oe horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 to 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: moderately decomposed material or its gravelly analogue
Rock fragments: 0 to 15 percent
Organic matter: 60 to 90 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)

A horizon:
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 2 to 3 moist, 4 or 5 dry
Chroma: 1 to 3
Texture: silt loam, loam or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 10 to 50 percent
Silt: 38 to 80 percent
Clay: 2 to 12 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 20 percent
Organic matter: 2 to 8 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)

Bw horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma: 1 to 4
Texture: silt loam, loam or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 20 to 52 percent
Silt: 32 to 74 percent
Clay: 6 to 16 percent
Rock fragments: 0 to 34 percent
Organic matter: 1 to 6 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to neutral (pH 5.6 to 7.3)

2C1 horizon:
Hue: 10YR or 2.5Y
Value: 3 to 5 moist, 5 to 7 dry
Chroma: 3 to 4
Texture: silt loam, loam or their gravelly analogues
Sand: 20 to 52 percent
Silt: 34 to 74 percent
Clay: 6 to 14 percent
Rock fragments: 40 to 85 percent
Gravels: 30 to 70 percent
Cobbles: 0 to 20 percent
Organic matter: 0.4 to 3 percent
Reaction class: moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.6 to 6.5)

2C2 horizon:
In lieu of texture: cobbles
Rock fragments: 90 to 100 percent

2R horizon:
Strongly coherent to indurated slate bedrock.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Drywolf (MT) and Tumi (AK) series.
Drywolf soils lack a lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), lack redox concentrations, have a mean annual air temperature range of 1 to 4 degrees C. (34 to 39 degrees F.), and have a mean annual precipitation of 630 to 900 mm (25 to 35 in)
Tumi soils lack redox concentrations, have a mean annual air temperature range of -6 to -1 degrees C. (21 to 30 degrees F.), and have a mean annual precipitation of 400 to 600 mm (16 to 24 in)

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Elevation: 175 to 475 meters (575 to 1560 feet)
Parent material: loess over gravelly loamy residuum weathered from slate
Landform: ridges
Slope: 0 to 25 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 300 to 500 mm (12 to 20 in)
Mean annual air temperature: -6 to -2 degrees C. (21 to 28 degrees F.)
Frost free period: 70 to 85 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Kanik, Kimialuk, Nunapik, Siku, Sikuruk, and Urgiilik soils.
Kanik soils have a fragmental layer starting at depths between 66 to 100 cm (26 to 40 in), lack a cambic horizon, lack redox concentrations, have a loamy-skeletal particle size class, have a gelic soil temperature regime, and occur on mountainflanks, upper and center thirds
Kimialuk soils have a lithic contact at depths between 100 to 150 cm (40 to 60 in), have cryoturbation, have free carbonates starting below 40 cm (16 in), lack a fragmental layer, have a loamy-skeletal particle size class, have a gelic soil temperature regime, and occur on mountainflanks, upper third
Nunapik soils have permafrost, lack a lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), have aquic conditions starting within 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in), have a histic epipedon, lack a fragmental layer, have a fine-loamy particle size class, have an isotic mineralogy class, have a gelic soil temperature regime, and occur on saddles or mounds on hillslopes
Siku soils lack a lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), have aquic conditions starting within 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in), have a folistic epipedon, lack a fragmental layer, have a loamy-skeletal particle size class, have a gelic soil temperature regime, and occur on mountainflanks, upper, center, and lower thirds
Sikuruk soils have permafrost, lack a lithic contact within 200 cm (79 in), have aquic conditions starting within 0 to 25 cm (0 to 10 in), have an organic surface thicker than 40 cm (16 in), lack a fragmental layer, have a gelic soil temperature regime, and occur on saddles, shoulders, summits, and mountainflanks, center third
Urgiilik soils have a fragmental layer starting at depths between 25 to 91 cm (10 to 36 in), lack redox concentrations, have a loamy-skeletal particle size class, and occur on side slopes 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 high in the A, Bw, 2C1 horizons, very high in the 2C2 horizon
Permeability: rapid to very rapid in the Oe horizon, moderate to moderately rapid in the A, Bw, and 2C1 horizons, very rapid in the 2C2 horizon
Runoff: low to medium

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use: wildlife habitat, recreation, and subsistence
Native vegetation: greygreen reindeer lichen, rhytidium moss, eightpetal mountain-avens, Flavocetraria cucullata, dwarf birch, red fruit bearberry, marsh Labrador tea, alpine azalea, Bigelow's sedge

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 240, Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands. The series is of moderate 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: 27 to 102 cm (11 to 40 in)

Ochric epipedon: 0 to 8 cm (0 to 3 in) (Oe and A horizon)

Cambic horizon: 2 to 30 cm (1 to 12 in) (A and Bw horizon)

Redoximorphic concentrations: 8 to 30 cm (3 to 12 in) (Bw horizon)

Lithologic discontinuity: 30 to 105 cm (12 to 41 in) (2C1, 2C2, and 2R horizon)

Lithic contact: 80 to 105 cm (32 to 41 in) (2R horizon)

ADDITIONAL DATA:

User pedon ID: 2021AK180792

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.