LOCATION NUNARUK                 AK

Established Series
MPS/SAS
05/2022

NUNARUK SERIES

Landscape--hills
Landform--volcanic cones
Slope--15 to 60 percent
Parent material--herbaceous organic material over gravelly colluvium derived from scoria and basalt residuum
Mean annual precipitation--about 525 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--udic
Soil temperature regime--cryic
Soil moisture subclass--typic

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Cindery, mixed Folistic Dystrocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Nunaruk silt loam on a north facing convex, convex backslope on a volcanic cone, on a slope of 35 percent at an elevation of 282 m (The soil was moist to 35 cm, wet, non-satiated to 45 cm, and moist throughout the rest of the profile when described on June 26, 2016.)

Oi--0 to 9 cm; slightly decomposed plant material, reddish yellow (5YR 6/6) dry, yellowish red (5YR 4/6) moist; many very fine and medium and common fine and coarse roots; extremely acid (pH 4.0); clear wavy boundary

Oe--9 to 18 cm; moderately decomposed plant material, reddish brown (5YR 5/4) dry, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; many very fine and medium and common fine and coarse roots; extremely acid (pH 3.8); clear wavy boundary

A--18 to 30 cm; highly organic gravelly silt loam, 50 percent dark gray (7.5YR 4/1) and 50 percent brown (7.5YR 4/2) dry, 50 percent black (7.5YR 2.5/1) and 50 percent very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/2) moist; moderate coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; common very fine, fine, and medium roots; 5 percent cobbles by volume, 15 percent gravels by volume; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); gradual irregular boundary

2C--30 to 150 cm; gravel, brown (7.5YR 5/3) dry, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; 15 percent cobbles by volume, 80 percent gravels by volume; very strongly acid (pH 4.8)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.3336490, longitude -161.8869430 degrees, datum WGS84 (Coordinates determined with a GPS unit)

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--0 to 2 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--dry less than 45 consecutive days in June through October
Folistic epipedon--15 to 25 cm
n Value of 0.7 or less--within 50 cm of the mineral soil surface

Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--2 to 10 percent
*Total fragments--90 to 100 percent gravels, cobbles, stones, boulders

Oi horizon
Thickness--2 to 15 cm

Oe horizon
Thickness--10 to 25cm

A horizon
Hue--7.5YR, or 10YR
Value--3 to 5 moist, 5 to 7 dry
Chroma--2 to 4
Clay--2 to 10 percent
Sand--20 to 45 percent
Organic carbon--5 to 1percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 60 percent cinders
Gravel content--15 to 35 percent
Cobble content--5 to 30 percent
Stone content--0 to 10 percent
Boulder content--0 to 20 percent
Reaction--4.5 to 5.4
Thickness--5 to 35

2C horizon
Hue--10YR, or 2.5Y
Value--3 to 5 moist, 5 to 7 dry
Chroma--2 to 5
In lieu of texture--gravels, cobbles, stones, boulders
Organic carbon--0.5 to 1.5 percent
Total fragment content--90 to 100 percent cinders
Total gravel content--35 to 80 percent
Total cobble content--15 to 30 percent
Total stone content--10 to 15 percent
Total boulder content--0 to 20 percent
Reaction--4.8 to 5.4

COMPETING SERIES: none

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--150 to 400 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--400 to 600 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
* Penguq-- cambic horizon, slope range is 5 to 40 percent; south facing backslopes on volcanic cones

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--well drained
*Saturation during normal years--none
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--very high in the surface organic layer and the fragmental soil layers, moderately high or high throughout the rest of the profile

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--Siberian alder, dwarf birch, Bigelow's sedge, bluejoint, dicranum moss, spreading woodfern, black crowberry, western oakfern, marsh Labrador tea, knights plume moss, arctic starflower, bog blueberry, Carolina fanwort, stiff clubmoss, meadow bistort, fireweed, tall Jacob's ladder, mountain heather, beauverd spirea, arctic raspberry, splendid feather moss, Schreber's big red stem moss, moss, polytrichum moss, crustose lichen, cup lichen

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands, Alaska; MLRA 240; small extent

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nulato Hills BLM area, Nome Census Area, Alaska; 2021

REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon
*Particle-size control section--zone from 43 to 118cm
*Folistic epipedon--zone from 0 to 18cm
*Lithologic discontinuity--30 cm

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.