LOCATION MOOSE RIVER AK

Established Series
Rev. JPM/DM
10/2001

MOOSE RIVER SERIES

The Moose River series consists of very deep, very poorly or poorly drained soils formed in stratified alluvium. Moose River soils are on flood plains and alluvial terraces. Slopes range from 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual temperature is about 35 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation is about 22 inches.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid Typic Cryaquents

TYPICAL PEDON: Moose River silt loam - on a 1 percent slope under forest vegetation. (All colors are for moist soil)

Oi-0 to 5 inches; very dark brown (10YR 2/2) slightly decomposed plant material, mat of roots, and moss; strongly acid (pH 5.3); abrupt smooth boundary. (3 to 6 inches thick)

A--5 to 10 inches; very dark grayish brown (2.5Y 3/2) silt loam; weak thin platy structure; nonsticky and nonplastic; common roots; pockets and thin layers of olive sand; moderately acid (pH 5.7); abrupt wavy boundary. (4 to 8 inches thick)

Cg1--10 to 45 inches: dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) fine sand stratified with lenses of silt loam and peat; single grain; loose; moderately acid (pH 5.7). (20 to 55 inches thick)

2Cg2--45 to 60 inches; dark greenish gray (5GY 4/1) gravelly sand; single grain; loose; moderately acid (pH 5.7).

TYPE LOCATION: Kenai-Kasilof Area, Alaska. Approximately 1/4 mile northwest of the junction of the Sterling Highway and Cohoe Road; NE 1/4, NE 1/4, section 1, T.2 N., R.12 W., Seward Meridian.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Stratified loamy textures range from 30 to 60 inches in thickness over sand and gravel. Upon mixing, the upper control section has between 50 to 70 percent fine sands or coarser. Mottling is present below the surface horizon and some pedons are strongly gleyed in the lower profile.

The A horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 2 to 4, and chroma of 0 to 2.

The C horizon has hue of 10YR to 5B, value of 4 or 5, and chroma of 0 to 2. Texture is stratified lenses of silt loam, fine sandy loam, fine sand, and peat modified by 0 to 35 percent gravel.

The 2C horizon is dominantly sand and gravel. Thin lenses of silt loam, sandy loam, and peat may occur randomly throughout the horizon. Coarse fragment content ranges from 15 to 55 percent with 5 to 20 percent cobbles and stones and 10 to 35 percent gravel.

COMPETING SERIES: These are the Aquatna, Noonku, and Susivar series. Aquatna soils lack gravelly textures in the lower part of the control section. Noonku soils lack strata of buried peat throughout the profile. Susivar soils are somewhat poorly drained.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Moose River soils are on flood plains and low alluvial terraces. The slope is 0 to 3 percent. Most areas are subject to frequent overflow and many areas are influenced by seepage from adjoining slopes. The soils are formed in stratified alluvium. The mean annual temperature ranges from 33 to 37 degrees F., and the average annual precipitation ranges from 14 to 28 inches.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These include the Chulitna, Delyndia, Dinglishna, Homestead, Nancy, and Naptowne series. All of these soils except Dinglishna are well drained upland soils with spodic horizons. Dinglishna soils are poorly drained and have a cemented spodic horizon.

DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Very poorly or poorly drained. High or very high runoff. Moderate permeability in the surface layers and rapid in the underlying material.

USE AND VEGETATION: Sparse forest of black spruce, balsam poplar, and willows. Understory includes sphagnum moss, sedges, low growing shrubs, forbs, and grasses.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Cook Inlet-Susitna Lowlands, South-central Alaska. The series is of moderate extent.

MLRA OFFICE RESPONSIBLE: Anchorage, Alaska

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Kenai-Kasilof Area, Alaska. 1960.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon include: matrix chroma of 1 between 10 and 60 inches; saturated conditions; cryic temperature regime; weighted average of coarse-loamy material from 10 to 40 inches; skeletal material below 50 inches; pH greater than 5.5 (H2O, 1:1) from 10 to 50 inches.

The Moose River soils were formerly classified as acid. In all areas where mapped, however, the pH in the control section ranges above 5.5 (H2O, 1:1).

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.

Contact: Mike Gracz Kenai Watershed Forum  PO Box 15301 Fritz Creek, AK  99603 907-235-2218

04 May 2007 10:23