LOCATION PELLERNARQUQ            AK

Established Series
SAS/TJR/SJN
02/2022

PELLERNARQUQ SERIES

The Pellernarquq series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils formed in organic material over loess. Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 690 millimeters and the mean annual air temperature is about 0.6 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, dysic Terric Cryohemists

TYPICAL PEDON: Pellernarquq peat, located on a dip of a plain with a slope of 2 percent and elevation of 33 meters; when described on July 28th, 2007 the soil was moist from 0 to 20 cm and saturated from 20 to 183 cm (Colors are for moist soil unless otherwise noted)

Oi1--0 to 20 cm; peat; many very fine and fine roots, many medium roots, and common coarse roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.6); clear smooth boundary

Oi2--20 to 46 cm; peat; many very fine and fine roots, many medium roots, and few coarse roots; extremely acid (pH 4.4); diffuse smooth boundary

Oe--46 to 92 cm; mucky peat; many very fine and fine roots, few medium roots,and few coarse roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); clear smooth boundary

A--92 to 105 cm; very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) mucky silt loam; 20 percent sand; 75 percent silt; 5 percent clay; weak medium subangular blocky structure; very friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; common very fine and fine roots, few medium roots, and few coarse roots; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear smooth boundary

Cg--105 to 183 cm; 60 percent dark gray (5Y 4/1) and 35 percent greenish gray (10Y 5/1) silt loam; 20 percent sand; 75 percent silt; 5 percent clay; massive; friable, nonsticky, nonplastic; few very fine and fine roots and few medium roots and few coarse roots; 5 percent coarse dark brown (7.5YR 3/4) moist, masses of oxidized iron with diffuse boundaries; moderately acid (pH 5.8)

TYPE LOCATION: Dillingham Census Area, Alaska; 3 km northwest of the city center of the City of Dillingham; 59.059167 degrees north latitude and 158.5013889 degrees west longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature - 0.6 to 2.2 degrees C (cryic soil temperature regime)
Soil moisture control section - Soil is saturated at the soil surface for much of the growing season in most years (aquic soil moisture regime)
Thickness of hemic soil material - 37 to 90 cm
Depth to aquic conditions - 0 cm
Depth to reduced matrix - 65 to 130 cm

All mineral horizons-
Reaction - 5.3 to 6.1

Particle-size control section-
Clay content - 2 to 7 percent
Rock fragments - 0 percent

Oi1 and Oi2 horizons (where present)
Combined thickness - 43 to 90 cm
Organic matter content - 85 to 95 percent
Sodium pyrophosphate color - 10YR 8/1, 10YR 8/2, or 10YR 8/3
Volume of unrubbed fibers - 92 to 98 percent
Volume of rubbed fibers - 74 to 80 percent

Oe horizon
Thickness - 37 to 90 cm
Organic matter content - 60 to 85 percent
Sodium pyrophosphate color - 10YR 6/4 or 10YR 7/3
Volume of unrubbed fibers - 40 to 65 percent
Volume of rubbed fibers - 35 to 60 percent

A horizon
Hue - 7.5YR or 10YR
Value - 2 to 3
Chroma - 2 or 3
Fine earth texture - Mucky silt loam
Clay content - 2 to 7 percent
Reaction - 5.3 to 6.2
Rock fragments - 0 percent
Thickness - 10 to 55 cm

Cg horizon
Hue -10YR to 10Y
Value - 4 or 5
Chroma - 1 or 2
Fine earth texture - Silt loam, very fine sandy loam, or silt
Clay content - 2 to 7 percent
Reaction - 5.4 to 6.1
Rock fragments - 0 percent
Thickness - 53 to 118 cm

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Grice soils. Grice soils are formed in organic material over gravelly alluvium mixed with volcanic ash.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material - Organic material over coarse-silty loess
Landform - Dips and talfs on plains
Slope - 0 to 6 percent
Elevation - 1 to 117 meters
Climate - Cool summers; cold winters, August and September are the wettest months
Mean annual precipitation - 608 to 881 mm
Mean annual air temperature - 0.2 to 0.7 degrees C
Frost free duration - 85 to 140 days

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
Snakeriver - Very poorly drained, formed in organic parent material, no mineral soil present, flood plains
Wearyriver - Very poorly drained, formed in organic parent material, no mineral soil present, dips on plains
Nushagak - Poorly drained, formed in organic material over loess, talfs on plains
Muklung - Moderately well drained, formed in organic material over volcanic ash and loess, talfs and rises on plains
Kanakanak - Well drained, formed in loess, rises on plains

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: (Ksat)
Drainage class - Very poorly drained
Saturation in normal years - At the soil surface for most months of the year
Flooding - None
Ponding - Frequent and very long
Ksat - Moderately high to high throughout the organic soil material, moderately high in the A horizon, and moderately low to moderately high in the Cg horizon

USE AND VEGETATION:
Use - Wildlife habitat
Potential natural vegetation - Western Alaska maritime grassland composed of sedges, cottongrasses, dwarf birch, bog rosemary, sweetgale, and sphagnum moss.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Bristol Bay Lowlands; MLRA 236; moderate extent

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Soil Survey, Dillingham Census Area, Alaska, 2019

REMARKS:
Particle-size control section - 92 to 160 cm
Soil moisture regime - Aquic
Hemic soil material - Oe horizon
Aquic soil conditions - All soil horizons
Reduced matrix - Cg horizon

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National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.