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Wetland Classification and Mapping
of Seward, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions Ecosystem: Kettle Map Units: K23, K32
Seward Area Extent: K32: 6 wetland polygons; 23.9 acres K23: 5 wetland polygons, 6.8 acres. |
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A segregated K32 kettle above the Snow River Valley. Separate low sedge dominated areas are covered with tufted bulrush (orange-ish colored areas in the photo above), while adjacent higher areas are dominated by fewflower sedge and dwarf shrubs.
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Wetland Indicators Type: Peat Average depth to water table: 11 cm Organic layer thickness: 118 cm Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Typic Cryosaprists, Terric Cryosaprists Common Plant communities: K2 Component: Tufted bulrush- Alpine bulrush (Tricophorum caespitosum - Tricophorum alpinum) K3 Component: Fewflower sedge - crowberry (Carex pauciflora - Empetrum nigrum) Bog blueberry / Manyflower sedge - dwarf birch (Vaccinium uliginosum / Carex pluriflora - Betula nana)
NWI: PEM1Bg (K2); PSS1,3&4Bg (K3) HGM: Terrene Basin groundwater-dominated Throughflow (headwater). |
K23 and K32 are small peatlands with shallow water tables, frequently dominated by sedges and, where the water table is a little deeper, shrubs. If sedges dominate, the Kettle is named K23, and if shrubs are dominant with a deeper water table, it is named K32. These Kettles occur as small peatlands in low-lying areas on bedrock knobs.
Kettle Ecosystem wetlands are hydrologically connected at or near the surface to streams and eventually Resurrection Bay. Seward area Kettles are primarily encountered on the large rock drumlin northeast of town. They also occur in low spots on other ice-scoured bedrock knobs, especially above the South Fork of the Snow River.
