GGR227H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Wolters Kluwer, Soil Chemistry, Permafrost
Document Summary
Peatlands are a subset of wetlands that have accumulated significant amounts of soil organic matter. Soils of peatlands are colloquially known as peat, with mucks referring to peats that are decomposed to the point that the original plant remains are altered beyond recognition. Peatlands have historically been classified based on a number of criteria, such as topography, ontogeny (i. e. , landscape developmental sequence), hydrology, soil and/or water chemistry, plant community composition, and degree of soil organic matter decomposition. Minerogenous peatlands have significant inputs of groundwater and/or upland runoff generally imparting higher basic cation content and ph to their soils (heinselman 1963; moore and bellamy 1974). In contrast, ombrogenous peatlands, through deep accumulation of peat, have achieved a landscape topographic position where they are isolated from all but atmospheric inputs of water, alkalinity-generating cations, and nutrients. As a result, they have low ash and basic cation content and low ph in their soils, and are commonly termed bogs.
