LOCATION VOLKMAR                 AK

Established Series
Rev. SR/DLM
02/2022

VOLKMAR SERIES

Depth class: very deep
Drainage class: moderately well
Parent material: micaceous silty loess overlying sand and gravel
Landform: outwash plains and terraces
Slope: 0 to 5 percent
Mean annual precipitation: about 15 inches
Mean annual temperature: about 26 degrees F.

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

TYPICAL PEDON: Volkmar silt loam - on a nearly level slope under forest vegetation. (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi--0 to 2 inches; slightly decomposed plant material; very strongly acid (pH 4.5); abrupt smooth boundary.

A1--2 to 3 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) silt loam; weak very fine granular structure; friable; common roots; common roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); abrupt smooth boundary.

A2--3 to 4 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silt loam; weak very fine granular structure; friable; common roots; common roots; very strongly acid (pH 4.8); abrupt smooth boundary.

Bg1--4 to 9 inches; mixed dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) and dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) silt loam; weak very thin platy structure; very friable; few roots; common medium distinct reddish brown (5YR 4/4) redoximorphic features, mostly in lower part of horizon; strongly acid (pH 5.4); clear wavy boundary.

Bg2--9 to 19 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) silt loam; moderate very thin platy structure; very friable; few roots; common medium distinct brown (10YR 5/3) redoximorphic features; moderately acid (pH 5.9); abrupt wavy boundary.

2C--19 to 60 inches; olive (5Y 5/6) very gravelly coarse sand; single grained, nonsticky and nonplastic; 45 percent gravel; moderately acid (pH 5.9).

TYPE LOCATION: Salcha-Big Delta Area, Alaska; about 10 miles southeast of Delta Junction; in the SW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of section 9, T.10S., R.11E., Fairbanks Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Loess mantle: 20 to 40 inches, commonly high in mica
Substratum: sand or very gravelly sand.

O horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR or 10YR; value of 2 or 3; chroma of 1 or 2
Texture; slightly or moderately decomposed plant material
Reaction class: extremely acid to moderately acid

A horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y; value of 2 or 3; chroma of 2 or 3
Texture: silt loam or very fine sandy loam
Redoximorphic features: are present in some pedons
Reaction class: very strongly acid to neutral

B horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 7.5YR to 2.5Y; value of 3 to 5; chroma of 2 to 4
Redoximorphic features: common to many, consisting of irregular streaks and patches
Texture: very fine sandy loam or silt loam
Reaction class: very strongly acid to neutral

C horizon:
Matrix color: hue of 2.5Y or 5Y, value of 3 to 6, chroma of 2 to 4
Texture: silt loam or very fine sandy loam
Reaction class: moderately acid or neutral

2C horizon:
Matrix color: variegated colors
Texture: sand or loamy sand modified by 35 to 70 percent total coarse fragments, 35 to 60 gravels, 0 to 10 percent cobbles
Reaction class: moderately acid to neutral

COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series in this classification.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
Parent material: micaceous silty loess overlying sand or sand and gravel
Landform: slight depressions on outwash plains, terraces, and stream terraces
Slope: 0 to 5 percent, generally less than 3 percent
Mean annual precipitation: 10 to 15 inches
Mean annual temperature: about 24 to 30 degrees F.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the competing Nenana and Richardson soils and the Beales, Bolio, Dot Lake, Goldstream and Toklat soils. Beales soils are on low dunes, and consist of a thin loess cap over sand. Bolio soils are organic soils of depressions. Dot Lake soils occupy slight depressions and are dominantly sandy. Goldstream soils have a thick O horizon and high permafrost tables. Toklat soils are in borders of depressions, and have a cemented spodic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Moderately well drained. Slow runoff. Saturated hydraulic conductivity is moderately high or high in the solum and high or very high in the substratum.

USE AND VEGETATION: The Volkmar soils support forests dominated by black spruce, white spruce, and paper birch. Cleared areas are used for small grains, grasses, and vegetables.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: MLRA 229, Interior Alaska Lowlands, this series of moderate extent

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

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

REMARKS: Diagnostic features and horizons recognized in this profile include:
Loess mantle: 0 to 17 inches
Particle size control section: coarse-silty 2 to 17 inches, sandy-skeletal 21 to 60 inches (weighted average)
Cambic horizon: 4 to 17 inches
Temperature regime: cryic
Moisture regime: aquic

Under a thick O horizon a subsurface layer in these soils may remain frozen throughout the summer indicating a mean annual temperature of 0 degrees C. or less in these soils. Investigation to determine the prevailing temperature regime in Volkmar soils is needed for accurate classification. In the spring a water table is held up by seasonal frost.

ADDITIONAL DATA: National Soil Survey Laboratory data S06AK-240-00? from Southeast Fairbanks Borough, Alaska, samples by SSL Lincoln, NE, 07/2006

---

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.