Turbels are the Gelisols show cryoturbation in the form of irregular, broken, or distorted horizon boundaries, involutions, an accumulation of organic matter on top of the permafrost, ice or sand wedges, or oriented rock fragments. They occur throughout the Gelisol area in Alaska.
The vegetation is mostly mosses, sedges, shrubs, and black spruce.
The soils are used mostly as wildlife habitat.
The Cryepts occur on slopes that receive more solar radiation or in areas where fire or land clearing has changed the thermal properties of the soils enough to allow the permafrost to thaw.