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Wetland Classification and Mapping
of Seward, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions Ecosystem: Kettle Map Units: K34, K43
Seward Area Extent: K34: 13 wetland polygons; 35.8 acres K43: 9 wetland polygons, 19.8 acres |
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A K43 in a low spot on the large rock drumlin northeast of Seward.
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Wetland Indicators Type: Peat Average depth to water table: 10 cm Organic layer thickness: 129 cm Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Typic Cryosaprists, Terric Cryosaprists, Typic Cryohemists Common Plant communities: K3 Component: Fewflower sedge - crowberry (Carex pauciflora - Empetrum nigrum) Bog blueberry / Manyflower sedge - dwarf birch (Vaccinium uliginosum / Carex pluriflora - Betula nana) K4 Component: Mountain hemlock - Sitka spruce / early blueberry (Tsuga mertensiana - Picea sitchensis / Vaccinium ovalifolium) Sitka spruce / field horsetail (Picea sitchensis / Equisetum arvense) Mountain hemlock / Sitka alder (Tsuga mertensiana / Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata)
NWI: PSS1,3&4Bg (K3); PFO4B (K4) HGM: Terrene Basin groundwater-dominated Throughflow (headwater) |
K34 and K43 wetlands are a mixture of forest (K4) and shrubby (K3) components, usually as a peatland in a low spot on a bedrock knob. If forest predominates, the wetland is named K43, and if shrubs are more common it is named K34.
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.
