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Ofz3- 212 to 260 cm, black (l0YR 2/1, moist), undecomposed frozen
Drepanocladus fen peat ; ice crystals and vein ice ; ice content
approximately 75 percent ; unrubbed fiber content 72 percent ;
clear, wavy boundary .
IICgz- 260 to 290 cm, dark gray (5Y 4/1, moist) ; frozen, clay loam ;
medium acid ; ice content approximately 75 percent .
Fibrisols developed from sphagnum peat or undecomposed
Drepanocladus-fen peat materials .
These soils are associated
with unfrozen bogs and fens and are mapped as bogs or bog-fen
complexes .
The most common organic soil associated with these
peatlands is Typic Fibrisol .
Vegetation :
The vegetation on the perennially frozen Fibrisols, which
are found on peat plateaus and palsas (Figures 7 and 8), is dominated
by a stunted black spruce tree layer .
The shrub layer is dominated
by Ledum groenlandicum, L . decumbens , Empetrum nigrum, Rubus chamaemorus
and Oxycoccus microcarpus . The moss layer is dominated by Sphagnum
fuscum but some of the feathermoss species are also present . The
most common lichen species are Cladonia alpestris , C . rangiferina
and C . cornuta .
Here again,
the tree cover on the peat plateaus and palsas found
in Zone 6S.,is moderately dense black spruce . Further north, in Zones
4, 5 and 6N, the black spruce is more open and lichen cover becomes
dominant . In the northern portions of the study area (Zones 2 and 3)
these peatlands are covered with a very open black spruce-lichen type
of vegetation .
The vegetation on Fibrisols associated with peat polygons is