SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF CRYIC ORGANIC SOILS IN NORTHERN MANITOBA

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Soil Science
• Main Author: TARNOCAI, C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1972
• Subjects: Soil Science; Hudson Bay; Hudson; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjss72-060; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjss72-060

Two commonly occurring, perennially frozen, organic soils were studied, one from the south-west part of the Discontinuous Permafrost Zone and the other from the Continuous Permafrost Zone of the Hudson Bay Lowland in northern Manitoba. These soils had a characteristic domed or slightly elevated topography with a dense cover of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP.), Ledum groenlandicum Oeder, feathermoss, and sphagnum moss. The water content of the active layer was found to be much lower than the water (ice) content of the frozen layer. The exchangeable calcium and hydrogen and pH were higher in the frozen layer than in the active layer but no significant difference was found in the exchangeable magnesium, potassium, and sodium of the two layers. The high concentration of Ca in the frozen layer is likely due both to the transfer of soil moisture and nutrients along the thermal gradient and, as has been found previously, to the high selectivity of organic soils for calcium over magnesium and monovalent cations.