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The water from rain and snow collects, forming permanently waterlogged vegetation and stagnant pools. Muskeg is wet, acidic, and relatively infertile, which prevents large trees from growing, although stunted shore pine , cottonwood , some species of willow , and black spruce are typically found in these habitats.
Patterned Ground – Patterned ground occurs where stones form circles, polygons and stripes. Local topography affects which of these are expressed. A process called frost heaving is responsible for these features. Solifluction lobes – Solifluction lobes are formed when waterlogged soil slips down a slope due to gravity, forming U-shaped lobes.
In the sub-tropics, mires are rare and restricted to the wettest areas. Mires can be extensive in the tropics, typically underlying tropical rainforest (for example, in Kalimantan, the Congo Basin and Amazon basin). Tropical peat formation is known to occur in coastal mangroves as well as in areas of high altitude. [3]
The definition used for regulation by the United States government is: 'The term "wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.
The definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geology and paleontology, a paleosol is a former soil preserved by burial underneath either sediments (alluvium or loess) or volcanic deposits (lava flows or volcanic ash), which in the case of older deposits have lithified into rock.
A flat or very gently sloping area on the floor of a deep ocean basin. absolute dating The process of determining a specific date (in years or some other unit of time) for an archaeological, geological or paleontological site or artifact. accident A sudden discontinuity of ground, such as a fault of great thickness, bed or lentil of unstable ...
A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a ...
Eventually, peat builds up to a level where the land surface is too flat for ground or surface water to reach the center of the wetland. This part, therefore, becomes wholly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), and the resulting acidic conditions allow the development of bog (even if the substrate is non-acidic).