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Histosols

Formally Refereed

Abstract

While most soils of the world comprise primarily mineral materials, a small but important group of soils are formed from organic materials derived from plants, or less frequently, from animals. Organic soil materials contain a minimum of 12%-18% organic carbon, depending on the particle size of the mineral component (Soil Survey Staff, 2010). Generally speaking, soils with at least 40 cm of the upper 80 cm that are organic materials, and which do not have permafrost within 1 m of the soil surface, are Histosols.

Citation

Kolka, Randall K.; Rabenhorst, Martin C.; Swanson, David. 2011. Histosols. In: Huang, P.M.; Li, Y.; Sumner, M.E., eds. Handbook of soil sciences properties and processes, 2nd edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press: 33.8-33.39. Chapter 33.2.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/57399