Sapric
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A sapric is a subtype of a
histosol In both the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) and the USDA soil taxonomy, a Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material starting within 40 cm from the so ...
where virtually all of the organic material has undergone sufficient decomposition to prevent the identification of plant parts and even fecal matter. Muck is a sapric soil that is naturally waterlogged or is artificially drained.


Classification

The soils are deep, dark colored, and
friable In materials science, friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under stress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate. Substances tha ...
, often underlain by
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...
, or marly
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
.


World Reference Base

The
World Reference Base for Soil Resources The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is an international soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. The currently valid version is the fourth edition 2022. It is edited by a working group of the I ...
(WRB) defines "sapric" (sa) as a histosol having less than one-sixth (by volume) of the organic material consisting of recognizable plant tissue within 100 cm of the soil surface.


Canada

Muck soils fall under the Organic Order in the
Canadian system of soil classification The Canadian System of Soil Classification is more closely related to the American system than any other, but they differ in several ways. The Canadian system is designed to cover only Canadian soils. The Canadian system dispenses with the sub-orde ...
. Muck soils are organic soils, with at minimum of 30% organic matter and a depth of at least 40 cm.


United States

In the
USDA soil taxonomy USDA soil taxonomy (ST) developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cooperative Soil Survey provides an elaborate Soil classification, classification of soil types according to several parameters (most commonly their p ...
, sapric may be a subtype of a haplohemist or glacistel type, and may also be a diagnostic organic
soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
material where the fiber content is less than one-sixth of the volume. Muck soils are defined by the USDA NRCS as sapric organic soils that are saturated more than 30 cumulative days in normal years or are artificially drained. An example would be a soil made up primarily of
humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...
from drained
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
land.


Use and vegetation

Muck soil is used for growing specialty crops such as
onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...
s,
carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...
s,
celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...
, and
potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
es.


Geography

Muck farming on drained swamps is an important part of agriculture in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, and
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, where mostly vegetables are grown. The muckland of
Torrey Farms Torrey Farms is a large family farm located in Elba, New York, with a satellite property located in Potter, New York. It is one of the largest vegetable-crop farm operations in New York. Together its two lots total some 10,000 acres, composed pr ...
of
Elba, New York Elba is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 2,370 at the 2010 census. The town is at the northern border of the county and is north of the city of Batavia. The town contains the village of Elba, located near t ...
, which covers the counties of Orleans, Niagara, and Genesee, is thought to be the largest continuous section of muckland in the world. Another large tract of muckland, known as the Black Dirt Region, exists in the lower Hudson Valley. American "muckers" often have roots from the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
or
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
, where their ancestors practiced a similar type of farming.
Holland Marsh The Holland Marsh is a wetland and agricultural area in Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. It lies entirely within the valley of the Holland River, stretching from the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Schomberg to the river mo ...
, north of
Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, is the site of the
Muck Crops Research Station The Muck Crops Research Station is an agriculture research facility near Kettleby and Ansnorveldt, in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Office of Research at the University of Guelph. The station's research is focussed on several key areas ...
, a
University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...
facility.


Conservation

Muck farming is controversial because the drainage of
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s destroys wildlife
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s and results in a variety of environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more will be created in the United States because of environmental regulations. It is prone to problems. The soil is very light, so windbreaks are necessary to protect these fields in dry weather. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months.
Oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...
also removes a portion of the soil each year, making it progressively shallower. Oxidation also discharges
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
. Some muck land has been reclaimed and restored as wetlands for
wildlife preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
s. The impacts of drainage and agricultural production cause the loss of organic matter in muck soils through erosion, oxidation, and other processes collectively called "subsidence." Agricultural practices such as cover cropping and reduced tillage can significantly reduce subsidence but can not reverse it. Muck soils are, in essence, a non-renewable agricultural resource.


Etymology

The word ''muck'' has much usage in the
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
, referring in some cases to agricultural soil, and in others to dirt in general, and animal dung (sometimes human feces) in particular. Origins are probably from Norse, Danish, and Proto-Germanic roots referring to cow dung.


See also

*
Peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...


References

{{Wetlands Pedology Types of soil Animal husbandry