Black spruce usually grows on wet organic soils, but productive stands  are found on a variety of soil types from deep humus through clays, loams,  sands, coarse till, boulder pavements, and shallow soil mantles over  bedrock. In the Lake States and adjacent Canadian provinces, it grows on  soils of the order Histosols: peat bogs and swamps that have formed on old  glacial lakebeds and in muck-filled seepages on peat deposits that range  in thickness from 0.5 to 6 m (20 in to 20 ft). The most productive black  spruce stands are on dark brown to blackish peats, which usually have a  considerable amount of decayed woody material. Stands of low productivity  are usually found on thick deposits of partially decomposed sphagnum peat.

    In central Canada, upland stands tend to be of higher quality than the  lowland peat stands. Here, podzolic soils of the order Spodosols and gley  soils of the order Inceptisols are common on gentle slopes underlain by  clay-loam or clays that have been derived from glacial tills. Many of  these clay soils are derived from calcareous materials and are neutral to  slightly alkaline in the B or C horizons. The most productive black spruce  stands are found on the better drained sites such as sandy glacial  deposits, river terraces, and outwash plains of the order Entisols,  usually in association with hardwood species.

    In the north, black spruce sites are commonly underlain by permafrost  (perennially frozen soils). Black spruce seems to be the tree species best  adapted to growing on permafrost soils because of its shallow rooting  habit. Often the annual thaw depth (active zone) may be as little as 40 cm  (16 in). In northwestern Canada, black spruce often grows in alternating  organic and mineral soil layers, on hummock-like mounds that overlie the  permafrost (57). In central Alaska, black spruce is found on permafrost  sites of shallow wind-deposited loess and on old river terraces. At tree  line, it is often found on shallow, poorly developed mineral soils. On  most black spruce sites on permafrost, wildfire results in a temporary  increase in the thaw depth.

    Black spruce is found from sea level in eastern and northern Canada and  western Alaska to 1830 m (6,000 ft) in northern Alberta. It is considered  to be a tree of interior lowlands, however, and usually grows at between  150 and 760 m (500 and 2,500 ft). In the mountains of Alaska, Yukon  Territory, and Northwest Territories, it is often the tree line species at  elevations of 300 to 1220 m (1,000 to 4,000 ft). Local topography and  drainage seem to be more important than elevation in determining the range  of black spruce.