Soil Climate Site - Coldfoot, Alaska
 

SNOTEL Site: Coldfoot Location: 67° 15’ 12’’ N, 150° 11’ 0’’ W Elevation: 320 meters Landform: stream terrace Slope: 1 percent Aspect: west Vegetation: mixed black spruce-paper birch/shrub birch-ericaceous forest

Domain:  Soil temperature and moisture data are representative of fire induced late-seral forest communities (75 to 130 years since fire) that once were underlain by permafrost but have thawed and drained since fire. Soils are formed in loamy alluvial deposits on stream terraces in the Interior Brooks Range, Interior Alaska Mountains, Interior Alaska Highlands, Upper Kobuk and Koyukuk Hills and Valleys, and Yukon-Kuskokwim Highlands Major Land Resource Areas ( illustrated in red).

US Soil Taxonomy:  coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive subgelic Typic Historthels
Parent Material: stratified loamy alluvium
General Soil Profile Description:
  Oi-0 to 8 cm; very dusky red; slightly decomposed plant material; pH 4.5
  Cg-8 to 80 cm; dark gray; stratified fine sand through silt;  pH 4.5 to 5.0
  C-80 to 152 cm; very dark grayish brown; stratified sand through silt; pH 5.5

Notable Features: Soil properties at this site have been altered by wildfire. Prior to fire, this soil had a significantly thicker organic mat, permafrost within a meter of the surface and a perched water table above the permafrost. The gray and red patches in the upper part of the soil profile are redoximorphic features and indicate previously wet site conditions.

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