Soil Data Explorer - ALPOWA

Official Series Description

Lab Data Summary

Aggregate lab data for the ALPOWA soil series. This aggregation is based on all pedons with a current taxon name of ALPOWA, and applied along 1-cm thick depth slices. Solid lines are the slice-wise median, bounded on either side by the interval defined by the slice-wise 5th and 95th percentiles. The median is the value that splits the data in half. Five percent of the data are less than the 5th percentile, and five percent of the data are greater than the 95th percentile. Values along the right hand side y-axis describe the proportion of pedon data that contribute to aggregate values at this depth. For example, a value of "90%" at 25cm means that 90% of the pedons correlated to ALPOWA were used in the calculation. Source: KSSL snapshot (updated 2020-03-13). Methods used to assemble the KSSL snapshot used by SoilWeb / SDE

There are insufficient data to create the lab data summary figure.

Water Balance

Monthly water balance estimated using a leaky-bucket style model for the ALPOWA soil series. Monthly precipitation (PPT) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) have been estimated from the 50th percentile of gridded values (PRISM 1981-2010) overlapping with the extent of SSURGO map units containing each series as a major component. Monthly PET values were estimated using the method of Thornthwaite (1948). These (and other) climatic parameters are calculated with each SSURGO refresh and provided by the fetchOSD function of the soilDB package. Representative water storage values (“AWC” in the figures) were derived from SSURGO by taking the 50th percentile of profile-total water storage (sum[awc_r * horizon thickness]) for each soil series. Note that this representation of “water storage” is based on the average ability of most plants to extract soil water between 15 bar (“permanent wilting point”) and 1/3 bar (“field capacity”) matric potential. Soil moisture state can be roughly interpreted as “dry” when storage is depleted, “moist” when storage is between 0mm and AWC, and “wet” when there is a surplus. Clearly there are a lot of assumptions baked into this kind of monthly water balance. This is still a work in progress.

Sibling Summary

Siblings are those soil series that occur together in map units, in this case with the ALPOWA series. Sketches are arranged according to their subgroup-level taxonomic structure. Source: SSURGO snapshot (updated 2024-02-21), parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the ALPOWA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the ALPOWA series and siblings. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Small Shannon entropy values suggest relatively consistent geomorphic association, while larger values suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Competing Series

Soil series competing with ALPOWA share the same family level classification in Soil Taxonomy. Source: parsed OSD records (updated 2023-10-02) and snapshot of the SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Select annual climate data summaries for the ALPOWA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of median values. Source: SSURGO map unit geometry and 1981-2010, 800m PRISM data (updated 2023-10-09).

Geomorphic description summaries for the ALPOWA series and competing. Series are sorted according to hierarchical clustering of proportions and relative hydrologic position within an idealized landform (e.g. top to bottom). Proportions can be interpreted as an aggregate representation of geomorphic membership. Most soil series (SSURGO components) are associated with a hillslope position and one or more landform-specific positions: hills, mountain slopes, terraces, and/or flats. The values printed to the left (number of component records) and right (Shannon entropy) of stacked bars can be used to judge the reliability of trends. Shannon entropy values close to 0 represent soil series with relatively consistent geomorphic association, while values close to 1 suggest lack thereof. Source: SSURGO component records (updated 2023-10-04).

There are insufficient data to create the 3D mountains figure.

There are insufficient data to create the 3D flats position figure.

Soil series sharing subgroup-level classification with ALPOWA, arranged according to family differentiae. Hovering over a series name will print full classification and a small sketch from the OSD. Source: snapshot of SC database (updated 2023-10-02).

Block Diagrams

Click a link below to display the diagram. Note that these diagrams may be from multiple survey areas.

1. ID-2010-08-30-10 | Lewis and Nez Perce Counties - 2004

   Generalized distribution of the dominant soils in the immediate Lewiston area (Soil Survey of Lewis and Nez Perce Counties, Idaho; 2004).

2. WA-2012-05-11-13 | Whitman County - April 1980

   Typical landscape in the Kuhl-Alpowa association (Soil Survey of Whitman County, Washington; April 1980).

3. WA-2012-05-11-14 | Whitman County - April 1980

   Typical landscape in the Starbuck-Alpowa association (Soil Survey of Whitman County, Washington; April 1980).

Map Units

Map units containing ALPOWA as a major component. Limited to 250 records.

Map Unit Name	Symbol	Map Unit Area (ac)	Map Unit Key	National Map Unit Symbol	Soil Survey Area	Publication Date	Map Scale
Lickskillet-Alpowa-Rock outcrop complex, 50 to 75 percent slopes	77	13950	79692	2nxq	id611	1994	1:24000
Alpowa-Lickskillet complex, 35 to 50 percent slopes	8	4764	79695	2nxt	id611	1994	1:24000
Alpowa-Lickskillet complex, 15 to 35 percent slopes	7	2846	79684	2nxg	id611	1994	1:24000
Oliphant-Alpowa complex, 20 to 40 percent slopes	103	536	79567	2nsp	id611	1994	1:24000
Alpowa gravelly loam, 20 to 60 percent slopes	6	10222	82395	2rqx	id707	1976	1:24000
Alpowa loam, 3 to 12 percent slopes	4	6155	82373	2rq6	id707	1976	1:24000
Alpowa loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes	3	2097	82362	2rpv	id707	1976	1:24000
Alpowa loam, wet	5	529	82384	2rqk	id707	1976	1:24000
Kuhl-Alpowa complex, 30 to 65 percent slopes	45	51748	68541	29b0	wa075	1975	1:20000
Starbuck-Alpowa complex, 30 to 65 percent slopes	95	13537	68596	29cs	wa075	1975	1:20000
Alpowa cobbly silt loam, 30 to 65 percent slopes	3	3988	68524	299g	wa075	1975	1:20000
Alpowa variant silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes	2	477	69418	2b79	wa603	1984	1:24000
Alpowa stony silt loam, 15 to 30 percent slopes	1	398	69391	2b6f	wa603	1984	1:24000
Alpowa very stony silt loam, 25 to 65 percent slopes	AaF	3897	69770	2bln	wa623	1970	1:20000
Alpowa very stony silt loam, 10 to 25 percent slopes	AaD	2120	69769	2blm	wa623	1970	1:20000

Map of Series Extent

Approximate geographic distribution of the ALPOWA soil series. To learn more about how this distribution was mapped, or to compare this soil series extent to others, use the Series Extent Explorer (SEE) application. Source: generalization of SSURGO geometry (updated 2023-10-04).