LOCATION MOOSEHEAD               AK

Established Series
Rev. DKS/JPM/DLM
05/2022

MOOSEHEAD SERIES

Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: moderately well drained
Parent material: stratified silty and sandy alluvium overlying sand and gravel Landform: alluvial plains and stream terraces
Slope: 0 to 3 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 9 to 13 inches
Mean annual temperature: 21 to 28 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Fluventic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Moosehead silt loam - on a 0 percent slopes under black spruce forest at 1100 feet elevation. (All colors are for moist soil.)

Oi--0 to 5 inches; dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) slightly decomposed plant material; many very fine and common fine roots; extremely acid (pH 4.0); clear smooth boundary. (2 to 8 inches thick)

A--5 to 6 inch; dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt loam; weak medium platy structure parting to thin platy; very friable; nonsticky and slightly plastic; common very fine and fine roots; few fine distinct dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) redoximorphic features; strongly acid (pH 5.4); abrupt wavy boundary.

Bw1--6 to 16 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/6) silt loam stratified with loamy very fine sand; massive, parting to weak thin platy structure; very friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; few very fine to medium roots; many coarse prominent grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) redoximorphic depletions; moderately acid (pH 5.6); gradual smooth boundary.

Bw2--16 to 35 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; stratified with loamy very fine sand; massive, parting to weak thin platy structure; very friable; nonsticky and nonplastic; few fine to medium roots; few fine prominent dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) redoximorphic depletions; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear smooth boundary.

2C--35 to 60 inches; extremely gravelly sand; single grain; loose; nonsticky and nonplastic; 55 percent gravel and 5 percent cobbles; neutral (pH 6.7).

TYPE LOCATION: Gerstle River Area, Alaska; about 20 miles east-southeast of Delta Junction; in the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of section 1, T.11S., R.13E.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature: 3 to 35 degrees F.
Solum thickness: 20 to 40 inches

O horizon:
Reaction class: extremely acid to moderately acid.

A horizon:
Reaction class: moderately acid or slightly acid.

Bw horizons:
Matrix color: hue of 2.5Y to 10YR, value of 3 to 5, chroma of 2 to 6
Redoximorphic features: hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 or 4, chroma of 1 or 2 Texture: silt loam or very fine sandy loam with thin strata of loamy fine sand, fine sand, or sand, stratified loamy fine sand to silt
Reaction class: moderately acid to neutral
Thin buried or A horizons occur in Bw horizons in some pedons.

2C horizon:
Texture: sand modified by 37 to 75 percent total rock fragments; 35 to 75 percent gravel, 0 to 10 percent cobbles, a layer of fine sand, loamy fine sand, or sand up to 25 inches thick is present in the upper 2C horizon of some pedons
Reaction class: moderately acid to neutral

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this classification.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: stratified silty and sandy alluvium overlying sand and gravel
Landform: alluvial plains and stream terraces in broad valleys
Slope: 0 to 3
Climate: boreal continental, with short, warm summers and long cold winters
Mean annual temperature: 21 to 28 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: 9 to 13 inches, approximately one third of which falls as snow.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are Gerstle, Jarvis, Salchaket, Beales, and Tanacross soils. Gerstle soils occur where it is thicker. Jarvis and Salchaket soils occur in flooded areas between Moosehead soils and rivers. Beale soils occur on low dunes on the alluvial plain. Tanacross soils occur where a thick surface organic horizon and permafrost are present.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Slow runoff. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high over very high.

USE AND VEGETATION: Moosehead soils support forests dominated by black spruce, white spruce, and paper birch. Cleared areas are used for small grains, forages, and vegetables.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229 Interior Alaska Lowlands. The series is of limited extent.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Gerstle River Area, Alaska, 1992.

REMARKS: Diagnostic features recognized in this profile include:
Cambic horizon: 1 to 30 inches
Temperature regime: cryic
Redoximorphic depletions: 6 to 35 inches
Particle size control section: coarse-loamy from 10 to 30 inches, and sandy or sandy-skeletal from 30 to 40 inches (weighted average)

If undisturbed for a prolonged period, forest succession may lead to the buildup of a thick O horizon and permafrost may become established.

Drainage class was changed from well drained to moderately well drained by the presence of the redoximorphic features in the solum.

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.