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A lump of peat Peat stacks in Südmoslesfehn (district of Oldenburg, Germany) in 2013 Peat gatherers at Westhay, Somerset Levels in 1905 Peat extraction in East Frisia, Germany. Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs.
A bog is a mire that, due to its raised location relative to the surrounding landscape, obtains all its water solely from precipitation (ombrotrophic). [7] A fen is located on a slope, flat, or in a depression and gets most of its water from the surrounding mineral soil or from groundwater (minerotrophic).
W5 Alnus glutinosa-Carex paniculata woodland is rather local, but widespread but throughout the lowlands of England, and more rare in Wales and Scotland. It occurs on moist, peaty soils, particularly on or around lakes and peat bogs with a fluctuating water level, although it can also be found on neutral to acid mineral soils in suitable locations.
moss bog) is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or peatland, and is a standard term in Canada and Alaska. The term became common in these areas because it is of Cree origin; maskek (ᒪᐢᑫᐠ) meaning "low-lying marsh". [1]
This is a list of bogs, wetland mires that accumulate peat from dead plant material, usually sphagnum moss. [1] Bogs are sometimes called quagmires (technically all bogs are quagmires while not all quagmires are necessarily bogs) and the soil which composes them is sometimes referred to as muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens rather than bogs.
The other major use of dried peat is as a soil amendment (sold as moss peat or sphagnum peat) to increase the soil's capacity to retain moisture and enrich the soil. [4] It is also used as a mulch . Some distilleries , notably in the Islay whisky-producing region, use the smoke from peat fires to dry the barley used in making Scotch whisky .
Pocosin is a type of palustrine wetland with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils. [1] Groundwater saturates the soil except during brief seasonal dry spells and during prolonged droughts. Pocosin soils are nutrient-deficient (oligotrophic), especially in phosphorus. [2]
Peat fires, drainage and deforestation enhances the decomposition of soil organic matter, increasing the release of stored carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. [ 4 ] Tropical peat swamp forests are home to thousands of animals and plants, including many rare and critically endangered species such as the orangutan and Sumatran tiger ...