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Podzols in the Vicinity of the Nelchina and Tazlina Glaciers, Alaska¹

ABSTRACT

Soils that resemble Podzols occur on well-drained valley slopes and ridges in areas adjoining the Nelchina and Tazlina Glaciers in interior Alaska. These soils had strikingly thin solum and were distinguished by marked textural differences that coincided with major horizon boundaries in many cases. Studies of six profiles from this area showed that the upper horizon, commonly the A₂, is a silt loam and probably of loessial and volcanic ash origin, whereas the underlying gravelly sandy loam is of glacial drift origin. The surface silt appears to result from a lithologic discontinuity in the parent material and not from weathering. The presence of the discontinuity was reflected in textural differences and in base status of these soils, but the morphologic characteristics were those of Podzols. These soils appear related to the northern dwarf Podzols or nanopodzols (Kubiena).

¹ Contribution from the Soil Survey, Soil Conservation Service, USDA, The field work was supported by the Military Geology Branch, U. S. Geological Survey and the Soil Survey, USDA. The soil samples were analyzed by the Soil Survey Laboratory, Beltsville, Md.

² Soil Scientist, Soil Survey Investigations, SCS, USDA; and formerly soil scientist, SCS, now assistant professor, Division of Soil and Plant Nutrition, University of California, Davis, respectively. The authors acknowledge the support received. The senior author is especially grateful to J. R. Williams, Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey, for valuable assistance given him in the field and for making available the geological information presented in this report.

Received for publication September 8, 1959. Accepted for publication December 18, 1959.