Peat Bogs

Peat Formation

Peat is a partially decayed organic matter laid down in anaerobic, or lacking oxygen, conditions in wetlands. Peat forms when plant material, usually in marshy areas, is inhibited from decaying fully by acidic conditions. It is composed mainly of peat moss or sphagnum, but also includes trees, grasses, and other marshland vegetation. It also includes many other types of organic remains such as fungi, insects, pollen, and on occasion dead animals. Peat formed in very wet conditions will grow considerably faster and therefore will be less decomposed than that in drier places. This property lets scientists use peat as an indicator of changes in climates.

Types of Peatland

There are six basic types of peatlands, blanket mires are rain fed peatlands generally one to three meters deep. Many of the peatlands in the United Kingdom are of this type, blanket mires usually develop in cool climates with small seasonal temperature changes and about one meter of rainfall every year.

Raised Mires are in the lowland areas of Northern Europe and the former USSR, North America and parts of the southern hemisphere, they are rainfed and potentially deep.

String Mires are flat or concave peatlands with a string-like pattern of hummocks, they are found mostly in northern Scandinavia but also occur in North America and northern Britain.

Palsa Mires are characterized by high mounds, each with a permanently frozen core, and wet depressions between the mounds. These types are found in the former USSR, Canada, and parts of Scandinavia.

Peat Swamps include both rain and ground water fed types. They are found in tropical regions with high rainfall.

Characteristics and Uses

Peat is soft and easily compressed. Under pressure, water in the peat is forced out. Upon drying, peat can be used as a fuel, in fact, peat is the earliest stage in the formation of coal. Peat is traditionally used for cooking and domestic heating in many countries where trees are often scarce. Stacks of drying peat dub from the bogs can still be seen in some rural areas.

Peat is also dug into soil to increase its capacity to retain moisture and add nutrients. This makes it of considerable importance for agricultre.

Studies have shown that peat has a sugar called Sphagnun, it helps to preserve things and could be used in commercial fishing boats in place of expensive freezers that make ice. Peat has also been used historically as a bandage and diapers because of its acidic, antibacterial quality.

Peat is also used to make fires, which are used to dry malted barley for use in scotch whisky distillation.

Environmental and Ecological Issues

Because of the challenging ecological conditions of peat wetlands, they are home to many rare and specialized organisms that are found nowhere else.

Some environmental organizations have pointed out that the large scale removal of peat from bogs in Britain and Ireland is destroying precious wildlife habitats. It takes centuries for a peat bog to regenerate.

Recent studies have shown that the world's largest peat bog, located in Western Siberia and the size of France and Germany combined, is thawing for the first time in eleven-thousand years. As the permafrost melts, it could release billions of tons of methane gas into the atmosphere, greatly exacerbating global warming. Such discoveries are causing climate scientists to