PEDOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS ON SOME AEOLIAN DEPOSITS OF NORTHERN ALASKA

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Abstract
Sand dunes are present in northern Alaska in isolated situations. The greatest dune condition occurs in the vicinity of the Meade River eastward to the Colville River Delta. Buried soil profiles are common throughout the dune areas. A soil profile buried beneath a dune yielded an age value of 3840 yr. B. P. Mineral analyses showed the fine sands to consist of about 95% quartz and chert with a little feldspar and traces of collo-phane. The very fine sand fractions contain less than 2.5% heavy minerals made up of augite-diopside,epidote, garnet, rutile, and zircon, among others. The dunes are well developed and exist as well drained to xeric conditions adjacent to the river channels, but inland these dunes merge with the poorly drained tundra landscape. It was found that in going from the active dunes inland to tundra conditions the organic matter content and the "wetness factor" increased but pH values decreased. Total salt content as well as composition of the salt extracts remained nearly constant across the transect, and CN ratios followed no specific trend. The inland samples contained a little more silt plus clay than did those in the active dune field. There was no segregating of mineral species across the transect.

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