histosol

plural histosols

1. soil scienceA soil comprised primarily of organic materials.

   Histosols comprise soils formed in organic material.

   2006, Food and Agricultural Organization, World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2006, page 82

   2 more examples

   Unlike other soil orders, Histosols are not considered primarily mineral, but organic. They are commonly called bog, moor, peat, or muck; they are last in the list of soil orders, last in areal importance, and have been given the least amount of attention in the more recent soil classification systems.[…]Histosols are more than 12 to 18 percent organic carbon by weight (depending on the clay content of the mineral fraction and the kind of materials) and well over half organic matter by volume. Unless drained, most Histosols are saturated or nearly saturated with water a large portion of the year.

   1989, Donald Steila, Thomas E. Pond, The Geography of Soils: Formation, Distribution, and Management, 2nd edition, page 173

   Between 10 and 15Mha of land in the United States are classified as histosols or organic soils (peat), mostly occurring in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Florida (Lal et al., 2003; Morgan et al., 2010).

   2012, Donald L. Sparks, Advances in Agronomy, volume 115, page 106

   Synonyms: organosol