Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. Sphagnum moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most common components in peat, although many other plants can contribute. The biological features of sphagnum mosses act to create a habitat aiding peat formation, a phenomenon termed 'habitat manipulation'. Soils consisting primarily of peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding or stagnant water obstructs the flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing the rate of decomposition. Peat properties such as organic matter content and saturated hydraulic conductivity can exhibit high spatial heterogeneity.
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. The unique water chemistry of fens is a result of the ground or surface water input. Typically, this input results in higher mineral concentrations and a more basic pH than found in bogs. As peat accumulates in a fen, groundwater input can be reduced or cut off, making the fen ombrotrophic rather than minerotrophic. In this way, fens can become more acidic and transition to bogs over time.
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials – often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. A bayhead is another type of bog found in the forest of the Gulf Coast states in the United States. They are often covered in heath or heather shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink.
Sphagnum is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss. Accumulations of Sphagnum can store water, since both living and dead plants can hold large quantities of water inside their cells; plants may hold 16 to 26 times as much water as their dry weight, depending on the species. The empty cells help retain water in drier conditions.
In geology, a hummock is a small knoll or mound above ground. They are typically less than 15 meters (50 ft) in height and tend to appear in groups or fields. Large landslide avalanches that typically occur in volcanic areas are responsible for formation of hummocks. From the initiation of the landslide to the final formation, hummocks can be characterized by their evolution, spatial distribution, and internal structure. As the movement of landslide begins, the extension faulting results in formation of hummocks with smaller ones at the front of the landslide and larger ones in the back. The size of the hummocks is dependent on their position in the initial mass. As this mass spreads, the hummocks further modify to break up or merge to form larger structures. It is difficult to make generalizations about hummocks because of the diversity in their morphology and sedimentology. An extremely irregular surface may be called hummocky.
Ombrotrophic ("cloud-fed"), from Ancient Greek ὄμβρος (ómvros) meaning "rain" and τροφή (trofí) meaning "food"), refers to soils or vegetation which receive all of their water and nutrients from precipitation, rather than from streams or springs. Such environments are hydrologically isolated from the surrounding landscape, and since rain is acidic and very low in nutrients, they are home to organisms tolerant of acidic, low-nutrient environments. The vegetation of ombrotrophic peatlands is often bog, dominated by Sphagnum mosses. The hydrology of these environments are directly related to their climate, as precipitation is the water and nutrient source, and temperatures dictate how quickly water evaporates from these systems.
Palsas are peat mounds with a permanently frozen peat and mineral soil core. They are a typical phenomenon in the polar and subpolar zone of discontinuous permafrost. One of their characteristics is having steep slopes that rise above the mire surface. This leads to the accumulation of large amounts of snow around them. The summits of the palsas are free of snow even in winter, because the wind carries the snow and deposits on the slopes and elsewhere on the flat mire surface. Palsas can be up to 150 m in diameter and can reach a height of 12 m.
Cors Caron is a raised bog in Ceredigion, Wales. Cors is the Welsh word for "bog". Cors Caron covers an area of approximately 349 hectares. Cors Caron represents the most intact surviving example of a raised bog landscape in the United Kingdom. About 44 different species groups inhabit the area including various land and aquatic plants, fish, insects, crustaceans, lichen, fungi, terrestrial mammals and birds.
Minerotrophic refers to environments that receive nutrients primarily through groundwater that flows through mineral-rich soils or rock, or surface water flowing over land. Minerotrophic, “minerogenous”, and “geogenous” are now often used interchangeably, although the latter two terms refer primarily to hydrological systems, while the former refers to nutrient dynamics. The hydrologic process behind minerotrophic wetlands results in water that has acquired dissolved chemicals which raise the nutrient levels and reduce the acidity. This in turn affects vegetation assemblages and diversity in the wetland in question. If dissolved chemicals include chemical bases such as calcium or magnesium ions, the water is referred to as base-rich and is neutral or alkaline. In contrast to minerotrophic environments, ombrotrophic environments get their water mainly from precipitation, and so are very low in nutrients and more acidic. Of the various wetland types, fens and rich fens are often minerotrophic while poor fens and bogs are often ombrotrophic. Marshes and swamps may also be fed through groundwater sources to a degree.
Aulacomnium palustre, the bog groove-moss or ribbed bog moss, is a moss that is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution. It occurs in North America, Hispaniola, Venezuela, Eurasia, and New Zealand. In North America, it occurs across southern arctic, subboreal, and boreal regions from Alaska and British Columbia to Greenland and Quebec. Documentation of ribbed bog moss's distribution in the contiguous United States is probably incomplete. It is reported sporadically south to Washington, Wyoming, Georgia, and Virginia.
The acrotelm is one of two distinct layers in undisturbed peat bogs. It overlies the catotelm. The boundary between the two layers is defined by the transition from peat containing living plants (acrotelm) to peat containing dead plant material (catotelm). This typically coincides with the lowest level of the water table. To lower the water table before harvesting, ditching is performed first.
Missen are small, shallow, forest bogs in pine -dominated woods that form on crests, saddles, hollows or plateaus in the hills or mountains. They only have a thin layer of peat of between 30 and 100 centimetres thick. The term misse is local to the Northern Black Forest and also surfaces as Miß, Müsse or Müß. These names probably derive from the German Moos ("moss") because peat mosses (Sphagnum) play a key role in their development. Due to the poor tree growth associated with them, however, it could also stand for mies ("bad").
A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. Like coral reefs, peatlands are unusual landforms that derive mostly from biological rather than physical processes, and can take on characteristic shapes and surface patterning.
Stordalen Mire is a mire which lies in the subarctic region in northernmost Sweden. It is 10 km east of the town of Abisko close to Lake Torneträsk. It is a 25 ha palsa mire, which is common in the discontinuous permafrost zone. The mire has two major topographical features: elevated palsas and depressions. The palsas are dry, ombrotrophic plateaus with permafrost cores that raise the peat surface above its surroundings that is the wet minerotrophic depressions, largely permafrost free and water saturated. The small-scale topography is often very patchy in its structure, creating an environment where localities nearby each other have distinct differences in moisture, permafrost and nutrient status, which creates differences in vegetation types. Of these subhabitats the vegetation in the dry parts consists mainly of mosses, lichens and dwarf shrubs, whereas the wet parts are dominated by sphagnum or tall graminoids. A peat layer up to 3 m deep covers most of the area and is an indication of a net carbon accumulation over the past 5000 years. In the areas underlying by permafrost the active layer reaches a thickness of about 60 cm in the late summer. The mire experiences thermokarst erosion, with the ongoing permafrost thawing that leads to degradation and collapse of the palsa structure, converting it into the wetter surface types. To the east the mire is bordered by the shallow Lake Villasjön whereas it is in general largely surrounded by mountain birch forest.
A lagg, also called a moat, is the very wet zone on the perimeter of peatland or a bog where water from the adjacent upland collects and flows slowly around the main peat mass.
Paludiculture is wet agriculture and forestry on peatlands. Paludiculture combines the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands through rewetting with continued land use and biomass production under wet conditions. “Paludi” comes from the Latin “palus” meaning “swamp, morass” and "paludiculture" as a concept was developed at Greifswald University. Paludiculture is a sustainable alternative to drainage-based agriculture, intended to maintain carbon storage in peatlands. This differentiates paludiculture from agriculture like rice paddies, which involve draining, and therefore degrading wetlands.
Garron Plateau ASSI is a 4652.18-hectare area of special scientific interest in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Upland blanket bogs cover basalt rocks, and flushing by mineral-enriched water has resulted in the formation of alkaline fen vegetation. There are small areas of standing and running water but bogs, marshes, water fringed vegetation and fens cover 70% of the area. The remainder is heath and scrubland, humid grassland and mesophile grassland.
Sphagnum papillosum, the papillose peatmoss, is a species of peat moss distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. Although sometimes confused with Sphagnum imbricatum and Sphagnum palustre, it is distinguished by its yellow-green to brown short, blunt branches and papillose chlorophyllose cells.
Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. The park is considered to be a Class Ib protected area under the IUCN protected area management categories. It is 144.9 km2 (55.9 sq mi) in size.
