LOCATION STEESE                  AK

Established Series
Rev. JPM/DLM
12/2022

STEESE SERIES

Depth class: moderately deep
Drainage class: well drained
Parent material: loess overlying highly weathered schist bedrock, bedrock is highly fractured but grades into consolidated bedrock below 40 inches Landform: mountains and hills
Slopes: 2 to 70 percent
Mean annual temperature: about 26 degrees F., -3.3 C.
Mean annual precipitation: about 12 inches, 305 mm

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive Typic Haplocryepts

TYPICAL PEDON: Steese silt loam - forested (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi--0 to 2 inches, (0 to 5 cm); dark reddish brown (5YR 2/2) forest litter; many roots; mycelia at base of horizon; charcoal fragments; slightly acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (1 to 6 inches thick)

A1--2 to 5 inches, (5 to 13cm); very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) silt loam; weak very fine granular structure; very friable; many roots; common mica flakes; strongly acid (pH 5.3); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 5 inches thick)

A2--5 to 8 inches, (13 to 20 cm); dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) silt; many patches and streaks of brown (10YR 4/3); weak very thin platy structure;very friable; many roots; many mica flakes; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (2 to 6 inches thick)

Bw--8 to 23 inches, (20 to 58 cm); brown (10YR 4/3) silt; thin strata and pockets of dark brown (10YR 3/3) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; common medium and fine roots; few charcoal fragments; many mica flakes; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (3 to 12 inches thick)

C1--23 to 29 inches, (58 to 74 cm); grayish brown (10YR 5/2) silt; many yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) horizontal streaks; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; few roots; moderately acid (pH 5.8); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)

2C2--29 to 38 inches, (74 to 97 cm); grayish brown (2.5Y 5/2) extremely channery silt loam; massive; very friable; 60 percent schist channers; slightly acid (pH 6.3); abrupt wavy boundary. (5 to 10 inches thick)

2Cr--38 to 60 inches, (97 to 162 cm); highly weathered schist bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Goldstream - Nenana Area, Alaska; NE 1/4, NE 1/4, section 30, T.2S., R.5W., Fairbanks Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature: 32 to 34 degrees F., 0 to 1.1 C.
Depth to unconsolidated bedrock: 20 to 40 inches, 51 to 102 cm from mineral soil surface
Solum thickness: 10 to 20 inches, 25 to 51 cm
Particle size control section (weighted average): less than 18 percent clay and more than 15 percent fine sand or coarser, including coarse fragments up to 3 inches
Reaction class: strongly acid to slightly acid throughout the profile

A horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR or 10YR; value of 2 to 4; chroma of 2 to 4
Texture: silt loam or silt

Bw horizon: hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 3 to 6
Texture: silt loam or silt, silty clay loam strata are present in some pedons about 2 to 12mm thick. Strata tend to be roughly horizontal but commonly merge and divide in an irregular pattern.

C horizon (where present): hue of 10YR or 2.5Y; value of 3 to 6; chroma of 2 to 4.
Texture: silt loam or silt

2C horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 10YR or 2.5Y; value of 4 to 6; chroma of 3 to 6
Texture: silt loam or silt modified by 15 to 70 percent total coarse fragments; 15 to 70 percent channers and 0 to 40 percent flagstones

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Progress, Eska, Ganhona, Kalambach, Mine, Sambrito, Southpaw, Tebay, and Tsana series. Progress, Eska, Ganhona, Mine, Sambrito, Southpaw, Tebay, and Tsana soils do not have paralithic contact within 40 inches of the surface. Kalambach soils do not contain any significant amount of mica.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: loess overlying highly weathered schist bedrock, bedrock is highly fractured but grades into consolidated bedrock below 40 inches Landform: mountains and hills
Slopes: 2 to 70 percent
Mean annual temperature: 24 to 28 degrees F., -4.4 to -2.2 C.
Mean annual precipitation: 10 to 14 inches, 254 to 356 mm

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Fairbanks soils and Gilmore, Minto, Ester, and Saulich soils. Gilmore soils are located along ridges and have bedrock within 20 inches of the surface. Minto soils occupy similar landscapes but have a grayish brown mottled solum. Ester and Saulich soils occupy north facing slopes and contain gleyed horizons and permafrost at shallow depths.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained, runoff is medium or high, saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high to high

USE AND VEGETATION: Mostly forested. The principal tree species are paper birch, white spruce, and quaking aspen. A few small areas have been cleared and are used for oats, barley, grasses, potatoes, and hardy vegetables.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 231, Interior Alaska Highlands, Alaska. The series is extensive.

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

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Salcha-Big Delta Area, Alaska, 1967.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this profile are:
Ochric epipedon: 2 to 8 inches, 5 to 20 cm
Cambic horizon: 8 to 23 inches, 20 to 58 cm
Particle size control section: less than 18 percent clay and greater than 15 percent fine sand or coarser from 10 to 38 inches, 25 to 97 cm from mineral soil surface, including coarse fragments up to 3 inches
Temperature regime: cryic
Moisture regime: udic

The Steese series was formerly classified in the Alfic subgroup. Lamellae were recognized in a few pedons but cannot be mapped consistently.

ADDITIONAL DATA: National Soil Survey Laboratory data S04AK-090-001 from Fairbanks Borough, Alaska, samples by SSL Lincoln, NE, 07/2004

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.