LOCATION OLIVERHILL AK
Established Series
MPS/SAS
05/2022
OLIVERHILL SERIES
Landscape--mountains
Landform--ridges, mountain slopes
Slope--5 to 50 percent
Parent material--colluvium over residuum
Mean annual precipitation--about 500 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -4 degrees C
Depth class--shallow
Drainage class--well drained
Soil moisture regime--udic
Soil temperature regime--cryic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, nonacid Lithic Cryorthents
TYPICAL PEDON: Oliverhill extremely cobbly silt loam on a north northeast facing concave, convex shoulder, on a slope of 42 percent at an elevation of 541 m (The soil was moist throughout when described on June 25, 2016.)
Oe--0 to 6 cm; moderately decomposed plant material, dark reddish gray (5YR 4/2) dry, dark reddish brown (5YR 2.5/2) moist; many very fine roots and common fine and medium roots; extremely acid (pH 4.0); abrupt wavy boundary
A--6 to 22 cm; extremely cobbly silt loam, brown (7.5YR 4/2) dry, very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/2) moist; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm; many very fine and common fine and medium roots; 5 percent fine gravel, 35 percent medium and coarse gravel; 30 percent cobbles, 5 percent boulders, extremely acid (pH 4.4); clear wavy boundary
C--22 to 50 cm; extremely gravelly fine sandy loam, brown (7.5YR 5/3) dry, dark brown (7.5YR 3/3) moist; massive; common very fine and fine roots; 15 percent fine gravel, 35 percent medium and coarse gravel; 25 percent cobbles, moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt irregular boundary
2R--50 to 150 cm; bedrock
TYPE LOCATION: Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, latitude 62.9568350 longitude -161.1420230 degrees, datum WGS84 (Coordinates determined with a GPS unit)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--0 to 3 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--dry less than 45 consecutive days in June through October (udic soil moisture regime)
Thickness of ochric epipedon--5 to 22 cm
Depth to lithologic discontinuity--30 to 50 cm
Depth to lithic contact--30 to 50 cm
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--3 to 10 percent
*Total fragments--50 to 75 percent gravels, cobbles, stones
Oe horizon
Thickness--2 to 6 cm
A horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--2 to 3 moist, 4 to 5 dry
Chroma--1 to 2
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, sandy loam
Clay--3 to 10 percent
Sand--15 to 60 percent
Organic carbon--5 to 12 percent
Total rock fragment content--35 to 75 percent
Total gravel content--10 to 50 percent
Total cobble content--0 to 30 percent
Total stone content--0 to 10 percent
Reaction--4.4 to 6.2
Thickness-- 8 to 25 cm
C horizon
Hue--7.5YR or 10YR
Value--3 or 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma--3 to 6
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam
Clay--5 to 10 percent
Sand--20 to 65 percent
Organic carbon--1 to 2 percent
Total rock fragment content--50 to 75 percent
Total fine gravel content--10 to 25 percent
Total medium and coarse gravel content--20 to 35 percent
Total cobble content--15 to 30 percent
Total stone content--0 to 10 percent
Reaction--5.5 to 6.5
Thickness--15 to 40 cm
2R horizon
COMPETING SERIES:
*
Larkspur--very shallow to lithic contact, clay content ranges to 20 percent, pH ranges to 6.8, elevation ranges to 2,289 m, slope ranges to 70 percent; structural benches on mountains hills and ridges
*
Escures--moderately deep to lithic contact, pH ranges to 7.8 percent, slope ranges to 90 percent; escarpments on mountains
*
Polkapenn--texture ranges to coarse sandy loam, mean annual soil temperature ranges to 7 degrees C, slope ranges to 95 percent; hillslopes and mountain slopes on glaciated hills and mountains
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--80 to 1050 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--350 to 745 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -6 to -2 degrees C
*Frost-free period--45 to 80 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*MountMcDonald--shallow to paralithic contact, umbric epipedon; mountain slopes and ridges
*
Paugna--very deep, umbric epipedon, gelic soil temperature regime; hillslopes and mountain slopes
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, moderately high throughout the rest of the profile
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--crustose lichen, Drummond's anemone, alpine sweetgrass, red fruit bearberry, dwarf birch, bryocaulon lichen, sedge, cetraria lichen, reindeer lichen, star reindeer lichen, pincushion plant, eightpetal mountain-avens, black crowberry, splendid feather moss, marsh Labrador tea, smallflowered woodrush, knights plume moss, arctic willow, sphagnum, bog blueberry, lingonberry, arctic willow, whiteworm 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, Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska; 2021
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon
*Particle-size control section--zone from 31 to 50 cm
*Ochric epipedon--zone from 0 to 22 cm
*Lithologic discontinuity--zone from 50 to 150 cm
*Lithic contact--at 50 cm
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.