LOCATION MOOSE RIVER AK
Established Series
Rev. JPM/DM
05/2022
MOOSE RIVER SERIES
Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: very poorly or poorly drained
Parent material: loamy alluvium over sandy and gravelly alluvium or stratified alluvium
Landform: flood plains, depressions and channels on flood plains
Slopes; 0 to 3 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 14 to 28 inches.
Mean annual temperature: 33 to 37 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid Typic Cryaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Moose River silt loam - on a 1 percent slope under forest vegetation. (All colors are for moist soil)
Oi--0 to 5 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) slightly decomposed plant material, mat of roots, and moss; strongly acid (pH 5.3); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)
A--5 to 10 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silt loam; weak thin platy structure; nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; pockets and thin layers of olive sand; moderately acid (pH 5.7); abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)
Cg1--10 to 45 inches: dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) fine sand stratified with lenses of silt loam and peat; single grain; loose; moderately acid (pH 5.7). (20 to 55 inches thick)
2Cg2--45 to 60 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; moderately acid (pH 5.7).
TYPE LOCATION: Western Kenai Peninsula Area, Alaska. Approximately 1/4 mile northwest of the junction of the Sterling Highway and Cohoe Road; NE 1/4, NE 1/4, section 1, T.2 N., R.12 W., Seward Meridian.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Thickness of stratified loamy textures: 30 to 60 inches
Depth to sand and gravel: 30 to 60 inches
Weighted average of the upper control section: 50 to 70 percent fine sands or coarser
Redoximorphic features: below the surface horizon and some pedons are strongly gleyed in the lower profile
O horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR or 10YR; value of 2 to 4; chroma of 2 to 4
Reaction class: extremely acid to strongly acid
A horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 3
Texture: silt loam, fine sandy loam, very fine sandy loam, loamy very fine sand
Reaction class: moderately acid or slightly acid
Cg horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR to 5B, value of 3 to 5, and chroma of 0 to 2
Texture: stratified lenses of silt loam, fine sandy loam, fine sand, thin lenses of peat modified by 0 to 35 percent gravel
Reaction class: moderately acid or slightly acid
2Cg horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR to 5GY; value of 3 to 6; chroma of 0 or 2
Texture: sand modified by 15 to 55 percent total coarse fragments; 5 to 20 percent cobbles and stones; 10 to 35 percent gravel, thin lenses of silt loam, sandy loam, and peat may occur randomly throughout the horizon
Reaction class moderately acid or slightly acid
COMPETING SERIES: These are the
Aquatna, Belgua,
Noonku, and
Susivar series. Aquatna soils lack gravelly textures in the lower part of the control section.
Beluga soils have firm underlying material. Noonku soils lack strata of buried peat throughout the profile. Susivar soils are somewhat poorly drained.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: very poorly or poorly drained
Parent material: loamy alluvium over sandy and gravelly alluvium or stratified alluvium
Landform: flood plains, depressions and channels on flood plains
Slopes; 0 to 3 percent
Flooding: most areas are subject to frequent overflow and many areas are influenced by seepage from adjoining slopes
Mean annual temperature: 33 to 37 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 14 to 28 inches.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the
Chulitna,
Delyndia,
Nancy, and
Naptowne series. All of these soils are well drained upland soils with spodic horizons.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly or poorly drained, negligible to very high runoff. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high in the surface layers and high to very high in the sand and gravel in the underlying material.
USE AND VEGETATION: Sparse forest of black spruce, balsam poplar, and willows. Understory includes sphagnum moss, sedges, low growing shrubs, forbs, and grasses.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 224 Cook Inlet Lowlands, South-central Alaska. The series is of moderate extent.
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kenai-Kasilof Area, Alaska. 1960.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include: Matrix chroma: 1, between 10 and 60 inches
Redoximorphic depletions 10 to 60 inches
Particle size control section (weighted average): coarse-loamy material from 10 to 40 inches
Skeletal material: below 50 inches
Reaction class: greater than 5.5 (H2O, 1:1) from 10 to 50 inches.
Temperature regime: cryic
Moisture regime: aquic
The Moose River soils were formerly classified as acid. In all areas where mapped, however, the pH in the control section ranges above 5.5 (H2O, 1:1).
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.