LOCATION NENANA                  AK

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

NENANA SERIES

Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: micaceous loess mantle overlying fluvial sediments
Landform: low dunes, outwash plains, stream terraces and low moraines
Slope: 0 to 45 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 12 inches
Mean annual temperature: about 26 degrees F.,

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty over sandy or sandy-skeletal, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Nenana silt loam under forest vegetation. (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi--0 to 1 inches; black (10YR 2/1) slightly decomposed plant material; admixture of silt; many roots; strongly acid (pH 5.2); abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 4 inches thick)

A--1 to 3 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) silt loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; common mica flakes; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (1 to 5 inches thick)

Bw1--3 to 11 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; common mica flakes; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)

Bw2--11 to 16 inches; brown (10YR 4/3) silt loam; moderate fine platy structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; common mica flakes; moderately acid (pH 5.8); clear wavy boundary. (2 to 10 inches thick)

BC--16 to 21 inches; yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) gravelly silt; moderate very thin platy structure; very friable, nonsticky and nonplastic; 15 percent gravel; few roots; common mica flakes; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 12 inches thick)

2C--21 to 60 inches; variegated extremely gravelly coarse sand; single grain; loose, nonsticky and nonplastic; 60 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.8).

TYPE LOCATION: Goldstream-Nenana Area, Alaska; in the SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 5., T.8S., R.8W., Fairbanks Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature: about 33 degrees F.
Solum thickness: 6 to 27 inches
Loess mantle: contains a substantial amount of mica but less than 40 percent Depth to the sand and gravel: 11 to 39 inches
Upper part of control section:
Texture: silt or silt loam; less than 15 percent fine sand or coarse; less than 18 percent clay
Lower part of the control section:
Texture: sand or loamy sand modified by 0 to 70 percent total rock fragments; 0 to 70 percent gravel; 0 to 10 percent cobble

O horizon:
Reaction: very strongly acid to neutral

A horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR or 2.5Y; value of 2 to 5; chroma of 1 to 3
Texture: silt or silt loam.
Reaction class: strongly acid to neutral.

Bw horizons:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 3 to 8
Texture: silt or silt loam
Reaction class: strongly acid to neutral.

BC or C horizons: (where present)
Matrix color: hue of 10YR or 2.5Y; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 2 to 6
Texture: silt or silt loam
Reaction class: strongly acid to neutral

2C horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR to 5Y; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 2 to 6
Texture: coarse sand, sand, loamy sand, fine sand, loamy coarse sand, and loamy fine modified by 0 to 70 percent total rock fragments; 0 to 70 percent gravel, 0 to 10 percent cobbles
Reaction class: strongly acid to neutral

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Gulkana, Knik, and Yensus soils. All of these soils lack substantial mica.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: micaceous loess mantle overlying fluvial sediments
Landform: outwash plains, low moraines, and stream terraces
Slope: 0 to 45 percent
Climate: subarctic continental with long, cold winters and short, warm summers
Mean annual temperature: 24 to 28 degrees F.
Mean annual precipitation: from 10 to 14 inches

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the competing Beales and Koyukuk soils, and the Tanana soils. Tanana soils occur on similar landforms, have permafrost, and are poorly drained.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained. Slow to rapid runoff. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high in the upper control section and high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: Many areas are cleared and used for grasses, small grains, and vegetable crops. Nenana soils have native vegetation of white spruce, paper birch, and quaking aspen.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229, Interior Alaska Lowlands, Alaska. The series is extensive.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Yukon-Tanana Region, Alaska, 1914.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include:
Cambic horizon: 3 to 16 inches
Particle size control section: coarse-silty from 0 to 21 inches; sandy-skeletal from 21 to 60 inches (weighted average)
Temperature regime: cryic
Moisture regime: udic

ADDITIONAL DATA: National Soil Survey Laboratory data 59AK240004 and S06AK-240-002 from Southeast Fairbanks Borough, Alaska, samples by SSL Lincoln, NE, 06/1959 and 07/2006

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.