ABSTRACT
Organic soils are rich in fresh plant material or organic materials at various stages of
decomposition, namely fibric, hemic, and sapric materials (Soil Survey Staff 2003). These
soils usually form under conditions of water saturation. Organic soils include muck and peat
soils or histosols (Canada and United States of America), the tundras, the Irish peat bogs, the
moor peats (Australia), les sols hydromorphes organiques (France), and earthy peat soils in
Great Britain (Okruszko and Ilnicki 2003). Common organic soil parent materials may
include mosses (such as sphagnum), gyttja, dy, marl, volcanic ash, cattails, reeds, sedges,
pondweed, grasses, and various ‘‘water-loving’’ deciduous and coniferous shrubs and trees.
Organic soils can contain silicate minerals from trace to appreciable amounts. The charac-
teristics of organic soils depend mainly on the nature of the vegetation that was deposited in
the water and the degree of decomposition (Mokma 2005).
