53 
Soil and Landform Associations 
at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: 
A Soils Map of the Tundra Biome Area 
KAYE R. EVERETT 
Department of Agronomy and Institute of Polar Studies 
The Ohio State University 
Columbus, Ohio 43210 
Introduction 
The relationship between soils and topo- 
graphy has been recognized for a long time and 
forms one of the tenets of pedology.* Ideally, 
soils are arranged along a topographic (moisture) 
gradient. Soils representing the modal points of 
the principal elements of the gradient possess 
unique morphological, physical, and chemical 
characteristics. Thus, within a not too broadly 
defined region, the definition of landscape units 
provides reasonable predictability as to their 
soils. A similar relationship exists for vegetation. 
In an area such as Prudhoe Bay, which 
generally lacks significant large-scale topographic 
contrasts, the morphologic identification and 
landscape association of soils is complex. Here 
microtopographic contrasts associated with pat- 
terned ground must be used to understand the 
character of the soils. 
Although microrelief contrasts are common- 
ly less than 0.5 m on much of the patterned 
ground, soils possessing unique characteristics 
occur in a predictable fashion on the different 
elements of the pattern. Thus, on landscapes 
which lack pronounced topographic contrast but 
possess areally extensive ground patterns, such 
as polygonal cells, soil associations can be delin- 
eated with reasonable accuracy. 
Objectives 
The primary objectives of the 1973 Prudhoe 
Bay soils program were: (1) to characterize and 
delineate the principal soil-topographic or micro- 
topographic associations which occur in the 
main Tundra Biome study area; and (2) to 
construct a practical numerical key through 
which a maximum amount of soils and landform 
data could be represented on a large-scale map. 
Principal topographic (macro and micro) 
elements recognized on Plate | 
The area selected for soils-landform and 
vegetation mapping is representative of the Prud- 
hoe Bay Unit as a whole. It includes several 
moderately large tundra ponds and a number of 
small ones; a pingo and an associated, ridge-like 
element, and portions of two active drainage 
channels which provide varied topography and 
drainage along the margin of the area. The 
remainder of the area consists of gently sloping 
*Pedology is the branch of soil science which deals with the investigation of the natural laws 
governing the origin, formation, and distribution of soils. 
