Properties of A Wooded Palsa in Northern Manitoba

A palsa complex, 106 m in diameter, having a maximum height of 224 cm above the water table is described in detail. Permafrost occurred under the elevated, densely wooded palsa, extending into the underlying clay. The height of doming was largely due to ice accumulation in the clay and peat. The thickness of the active layer was least under the densest black spruce stands and greatest in the openings. The cumulative depth ofsnow was greatest in openings and least in dense stands. The volumetric moisture content of the peat in the active layer was about 30% in the fall, but this figure nearly doubled in the winter; the moisture content of the frozen core remained constant at over 90%. The peat material was largely mesic sedge peat near the bottom with mesic forest peat closer to the surface.