LOCATION MCCALLY                 AK

Inactive Series
Rev. SR
02/2022

MCCALLY SERIES

Typically, these soils have thin silty A2 horizons, brown B horizons, and stony C horizons. They are believed to be underlain by dry permafrost.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, shallow Typic Dystrocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: McCally series - alpine tundra. (Colors are for moist conditions.)

01--3 to 0 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) mat of litter, moss, and roots; extremely acid; abrupt smooth boundary.

A2--0 to 1/2 inches; light gray (10YR 6/1) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; roots common; extremely acid; abrupt broken boundary.

B2--1/2 to 4 1/2 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; patches of dark brown (7.5YR 3/2); weak fine subangular blocky structure, breaking to weak very fine granular; very friable; roots common; charcoal fragments and fine dark concretions; extremely acid; clear wavy boundary.

C1--4 1/2 to 18 inches; light olive brown (2.5YR 5/4) stony silt loam; weak fine subangular blocky structure in fine earth; few roots; extremely acid; gradual boundary.

C2-R--18 to + inches; weathered shale bedrock; angular fragments.

TYPE LOCATION: Aniak Area, Alaska. About 1 1/2 miles northeast of east end of airstrip.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: In places, especially at greater elevations, a thin dark A1 horizon is present in place of the A2 horizon. The B horizon ranges in thickness from 2 to 6 inches and in hue from 7.5YR to 2.5YR. The underlying rock may be shale, slate, or schist. The ground surface is hummocky, with bare "frost scars". Hard bedrock may occur at 10 to 20 inches, and outcrops in places.

COMPETING SERIES: These include the Cytex series of the same subgroup, the Talkeetna, Red Devil, Althouse, and St. Nicholas series of the same great group, and the Aniak series. The Cytex soils are sandy in both solum and substratum. The Talkeetna soils have dark reddish brown silty spodic horizons, and sola are thicker than in the McCally soils. The Red Devil soils do not have permafrost. The Althouse soils have thin dark A1 horizons are lack permafrost. The St. Nicholas soils have gravelly dark reddish brown spodic horizons, and lack permafrost. The Aniak soils lack a spodic horizon.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The McCally soils occur on ridges above tree line in interior and western Alaska. The regolith consists of loess mixed with weathered shale, slate, or schist. The climate is subarctic with long cold winters and short summers. The mean annual precipitation is unknown, but probably exceeds 20 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: In addition to the Aniak series, these include the well drained McGrath, Napamute, Koyukuk, and Kaltag series and the poorly drained Kuskokwin series. The well drained soils are formed in deep loess and have no permafrost. The Kuskokwia soils have a shallow permafrost table. The Aniak soils commonly occur at still higher elevations then the McCally soils.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Runoff is moderately rapid. Permeability is moderate to rapid.

USE AND VEGETATION: The vegetation is alpine tundra consisting of low-growing shrubs, sedges, grasses, lichens, and mosses, with few stunted paper birch and black spruce. These soils will probably have no use except for wildlife.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Interior and western Alaska. These soils are probably extensive.

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

SERIES PROPOSED: Red Devil Area, Alaska, 1964. Source of name is McCally Creek.

REMARKS: The McCally soils would formerly have been classified in the Alpine Podzol group.

OSED scanned by SSQA. Last revised by state on 11/64.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.