Descriptions, Depth to Refusal, and Field-Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Soils on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska, 2012-2016

• Main Author: Koch, Joshua C
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Geological Survey 2020
• Subjects: environment , geoscientificInformation , Terrestrial Hydrosphere , Lakes/Reservoirs , Watershed Characteristics , freshwater ecosystems , lake/pond , Cryosphere , Frozen ground , biological and physical processes , runoff , hydrology , soil sciences , permeability , Alaska , North Slope , Chipp River , Meade River; Arctic; Meade; Alaska North Slope; Ice; north slope; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5066/p9us8c5x; https://alaska.usgs.gov/products/data.php?dataid=316

This dataset includes soil data collected from various landscapes adjacent to thaw ponds on the North Slope of Alaska between 2012 and 2018. The landscapes include ice-rich polygonal ground found on basin uplands, as well as bluffs and lake edges. At each site a visual description of soil type and texture was performed, and a permafrost probe was used to determine a 'depth to refusal'. Given that the soils are mostly fine-grained and there were no obvious rock strikes, we believe that 'depth to refusal' indicates the thaw depth. Field-saturated hydraulic conductivity was determined in most locations using a Guelph Permeameter.