Soil Climate Site - Gobbler's Knob, Alaska
 

SNOTEL Site: Gobbler's Knob Location: 66° 44’ 41’’ N, 150° 40’ 03’’ W Elevation: 625 meters Landform: mountain Position: summit Micro-feature: non-sorted circle Slope: 6 percent Aspect: southwest Vegetation: shrub birch/ericaceous shrub scrub (burned)

Domain:  Soil temperature and moisture data are representative of gently sloping alpine areas with periglacial features dominated by non-sorted circles and common to the Interior Brooks Range Mountains, Interior Alaska Mountains, Interior Alaska Highlands, and Yukon-Kuskokwim Highlands Major Land Resource Areas (illustrated in red).

 US Soil Taxonomy:  loamy-skeletal, paramicaceous, superactive subgelic Ruptic-Histic Aquiturbel
Parent Material: cryoturbate derived from schist
General Soil Profile Description:
  Oe-0 to 4 cm; dark brown; moderately decomposed plant material; pH 4.3
  Bw-4 to 18 cm; dark yellowish brown; channery loam;  pH 4.5
  Oa/Abjj-18 to 38 cm; very dark brown; very channery loam; pH 4.0
  Bwbjj-38 to 68 cm; dark yellowish brown; extremely channery loam; pH 4.6
  C-68 to 93 cm; olive brown; extremely channery loam; pH 4.8
  Cr-93 to152 cm; fractured schist bedrock
Notable Features:  Well expressed frost action or cryoturbation are illustrated  by the dark Oa/Abjj horizon at 18 to 38 cm.  This layer represents an old surface horizon that has been mixed into the underlying soil by frost heave.  Removal of the insulating surface organic mat by fire during 2004 has caused permafrost to subside on the site.  However, a water table, a feature normally perched over the permafrost, continues to persist.

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