Peat Bog Research Articles

Marsh decrease was much faster than the water increase among the Yellow River Source wetlands during 1986–2022

Wetlands are valuable and sensitive ecosystems that make them imperative to tracking the dynamics in their extent for sustainable management under global warming. Here we focused on the Yellow River Source (YRS) wetlands, which is renowned for hosting one of the world's largest plateau peat bog, unfortunately, it had experienced sharp degradation, threatening the safety of water supply for approximately 110 million people of the lower Yellow River basin. However, the lack of long-term, dense time-series data makes it challenging to assess its evolution trends and driving factors. Therefore, we developed a decision tree sample migration method based on Euclidean distance and Land Surface Water Index, and successfully generated annual wetland mapping of YRS from 1986 to 2022 by utilizing the Landsat 5/7/8 datasets and Random Forest method. The average sample migration rate was 89.21 %, with an average overall accuracy of 95.49 %. We observed that the marsh area decreased by 2031 km2, marking a decline of 12.98 %, while the water area increased by 710 km2 (31.24 %) compared to 1986. Spatially, 10.96 % of marsh composition presents significant (P < 0.05) decline trend, which are mainly converted to grass (86 %), followed by impervious (10 %). There were 6.69 % of water composition showing significant (P < 0.05) increase trend, which are mainly sourced from impervious (82 %) and marsh (12 %). Grazing activities were more important driving forces than climate change for marsh degradation, while the water expansion was associated with recent rising temperature in YRS. The sample migration method is proved to be feasible, robust, and effective for long-term wetland mapping. We suggest that wetland decision-makers need to focus on marsh degradation and reduce grazing intensity, so that fostering the sustainable and healthy wetlands in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

The effect of wetting history, botanical composition and depth on the specific yield of two common types of bog peat

AbstractSpecific yield affects how much the water table rises and falls in response to rainfall, to evaporation and to seepage gains and losses. It also affects the aeration of the soil above the water table. Although widely measured in peat soils, the effect of wetting history on its value has not been investigated. Specific yield has been estimated in many studies by cutting peat cores into layers, and measuring how much water drains from the individual layers after they have been wetted. Specific yield, however, is a phenomenon of the soil profile and not subsections, so this method may not provide a reliable estimate of its value. Few studies have reported on the effect of botanical composition on specific yield, or at least have not controlled for the effect by keeping other peat properties like degree of humification constant. We addressed these questions by measuring specific yield in intact cores of peat in a series of laboratory experiments. Two common but contrasting types of Sphagnum peat were investigated that had similar degrees of humification: Sphagnum medium peat and Sphagnum pulchrum peat. We found that specific yield was highly variable, ranging between 0.16 and 0.62. Specific yield was not affected by wetting history, but was significantly different between the peat types, being on average 0.21 higher in the S. pulchrum cores. Specific yield did not vary with depth in the S. medium cores but declined linearly with depth at a rate of 0.018 per cm in the Sphagnum pulchrum cores. Finally, we found that drainage from the peat profile above the zone through which the water table falls is an important component of specific yield, contributing more than 66%–91% of its value in the S. pulchrum peat. Our results show that wetting history probably does not need to be accounted for when estimating specific yield, although further work on this potential effect is recommended. Our work highlights the importance of measuring specific yield using intact cores (field methods may also be appropriate) and suggests that many previous peatland studies may have underestimated its value.

Three new species for the odonatofauna of Piedmont (NW Italy)

Between 2020 and 2023, three new species of Odonates were recorded in Piedmont (NW Italy). Lestes barbarus was observed at an artificial wetland in the Turin Plain in 2021. Even though at least one individual was fresh, we cannot conclude that the species developed at the site. Subsequent visits did not permit to confirm the species. Coenagrion hastulatum was discovered at a peat bog in the NW Alps (Lac Falin, Valle di Viù) in 2023 and here reproduction was confirmed. This population is the fifth to be recorded for the central and western Italian Alps. Trithemis annulata was first recorded in Piedmont in July 2020, and subsequently, the observations of the species in the region rapidly increased, with a total of 66 records relative to 29 sites up to the end of 2023. These are distributed in most of the low-altitude areas of the region. The species was reported mostly in late summer, with only one site where the early spring records suggest successful overwintering. However, this needs further confirmation. The odonate list of Piedmont now accounts for 70 species, representing 73.6% of the taxa reported for Italy, and this makes Piedmont, along with Lombardy, the most odonate-rich region of Italy.

Indications of preferential groundwater seepage feeding northern peatland pools

Groundwater seepage from underlying permeable glacial sedimentary structures, such as eskers, has been hypothesized to directly feed pools in northern peat bogs. These hypotheses directly contradict classical peat bog models for ombrogenous systems, wherein meteoric water is the sole water input to these systems. Variations in the underlying mineral sediment in contact with the peat imply that unrecognized hydrogeologic connectivity may exist with pools in northern peat bogs, particularly where high permeability materials are in contact with the peat. Seepage dynamics originating from these structural variations were investigated using a suite of thermal and hydrogeophysical methods deployed around pools in a peat bog of northeastern Maine, USA. Thermal characterization methods mapped anomalies that were confirmed as matrix seepage or preferential flow pathways (PFPs). Geochemical methods were employed at identified thermal anomalies to confirm upwelling of solute-rich groundwater. Conduits around pools were associated with surficial terminations of suspected peat pipes, based on the inference of pathways extending down into the peat, that focus flow through PFPs in the peat matrix. Discharge also occurred through the peat matrix adjacent to suspected pipe structures and matrix seepage rates were quantified using analysis of diurnal temperature signals recorded at multiple depths. Seepage rates, with a maximum of nearly 0.4 m/d, were measured at localized points around pools. Periods of synchronized temperatures paired with highly muted diurnal temperature signals, recorded in diurnal temperature with depth data, were interpreted qualitatively as activation of strong upward discharge rates through suspected peat pipes. These time periods correlated strongly with local precipitation events around the peatland. Ground-penetrating radar surveys revealed discontinuities in the low permeability glacio-marine clay at the mineral sediment-peat interface, interpreted to be regional glacial esker deposits, which were located beneath and around pools. Heat tracing, specific conductance contrasts, seepage rates, and trace metal concentrations all imply groundwater seepage originating from underlying permeable glacial esker deposits and directly sourcing pools. Preferential groundwater inputs into northern peat bogs may play a key role in developing and maintaining pool systems, with enhanced solute transport impacting peatland ecology, water resources, and carbon cycling.

The use of point-impact techniques in stone processing (pecking) in the sites of forest Trans-Urals

For processing of stone and manufacture of tools, ancient man mastered a variety of methods and tech-niques — beating, splitting into flakes and plates, impact and spin retouching, grinding, sawing, drilling and some others. Of these, the least studied and insufficiently covered in the literature is the point-impact technique (pe-cking). Pecking could have been used both as an auxiliary technique and as the main one. When processing large tools (axes, adzes, pestles), which subsequently were polished, it was an auxiliary method. But when mak-ing a circular groove for tying and hollowing out a blind or through hole, it would have become the main one. In the forest Trans-Urals, the pecking technique was already known in the Mesolithic. A treasure hoard containing six stone axes has been found at the Mesolithic settlement of Ogurdino (Perm Krai). The axes were treated by beating and pecking techniques, followed by partial surface polishing. Also, two axe blanks with lugs (trunnions) from the site of Beregovaya IX in the Gorbunovsky peat bog (Sverdlovsk Region) belong to the Mesolithic. The edges of the tools and the protruding lugs were processed by pecking. A perforated disk-pommel in the shape of a kind of disguise was found in the Late Mesolithic layer of the 2nd Beregovaya site in the Gorbunovsky peat bog. A rounded hole 2.8–3.1 cm in diameter was made in the center of the disc by deep pecking on both sides. The majority of the items processed by pecking were found on mixed sites and date to a wide chronological range from the Neolithic to Bronze Age. Some of them represent accidental single finds. Stone sculptures, tops of maces, axes, adzes, plows, chisels, pestles, fishing sinkers, “ironings” were processed using point-impact re-touching. Tying lines on hammers made of massive pebbles were designed exclusively by pecking. During the Early Iron Age, the pecking technique only further expanded its application. Moreover, it was used not only for shaping products, but for making complex figured ornaments on sculptures and bas-reliefs.

Analysis of Potential Use of Freezing Boreholes Drilled for an Underground Mine Shaft as Borehole Heat Exchangers for Heat and/or Cooling Applications

Borehole engineering encompasses the part of mining that involves the process of drilling boreholes and their utilization (e.g., for research, exploration, exploitation, and injection purposes). According to legal regulations, mining pits must be closed after their use, and this applies to pits in the form of boreholes as well. The Laboratory of Geoenergetics at AGH University of Krakow is involved in adapting old, exploited and already closed boreholes for energetic purposes. This includes geothermal applications, as well as energy storage in rock formations and boreholes. Geoenergetics is a relatively new concept that combines geothermal energy with energy storage in rock formations (including boreholes). One type of analysed borehole is a freezing borehole. They are used, for example, in drilling mining shafts that are in the vicinity of aquifers and are drilled using the rotary drilling method with a reverse circulation of drilling mud, or in peat bogs. For borehole heat exchangers based on freezing boreholes for long-term mathematical modelling, several heating scenarios were considered with several thermal loads. The maximum average power obtained after one year of usage of four boreholes with variable temperatures was 11 kW. With the usage of 10 boreholes the power reached over 27 kW. The heat-carrying temperature was assumed to be 22 °C during early summer (June and July) and 2 °C during the rest of the year. When considering stable exploitation during a 10-year period with four boreholes with the same temperatures, a heating power of over 12 kW was obtained, as well as a power of over 28 kW when considering using 10 boreholes. The maximum amount of heat obtained during the 10-year period using 10 boreholes was over 8.8 thousand GJ. Once they have fulfilled their function, these boreholes lose their technological significance. In the paper, the concept is outlined, and the results of the analysis are described using the numerical program BoHEx.

Detection Of Peatland Coastline Changes Due To Land Use Change On Bengkalis Island, Riau, Indonesia

Abstract Beaches with peat soil material, especially in small island areas, are very vulnerable to coastline deterioration. Many things cause the back and forth of the coastline, including the occurrence of landslides of peat material towards the sea, commonly called Peat Bog Bursts. This research aims to reveal shoreline changes on the north and west coasts of Bengkalis Island using a remote sensing technology approach. As well as analyzing factors related to shoreline changes. The use of Landsat 8 and 9 images in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023 were processed on Google Earth Engine using the Canny method to produce shoreline data. Furthermore, modeling was carried out using DSAS (Digital Shoreline Analysis System) to analyze changes in the coastline and reveal the causes of coastal damage. There has been a conversion of land use from forests or fields to oil palm plantation areas on the west side of Bengkalis Island from 2004 to the present. Based on the modeling results, it was found that a Peat Bog Burst occurred in 2015 causing significant changes in the coastline until 2017. Sediments were deposited in the southern area of the west side of Bengkalis Island (Zone A).

On the detailed mapping of peat (raised bogs) using airborne radiometric data

This study concerns the applied use of the natural radioactivity in soils. The relevance of airborne radiometric (gamma ray) survey data to peat mapping is now well established and such data have been used in a stand-alone sense and as covariates in machine learning algorithms. Here we present a method to use these data to accurately map the boundaries of peat (raised bogs). This has the potential to assist with the estimation of carbon stocks using a property-based assessment of soil. The significance of such regionally-uniform survey data lies in the subsurface information carried by the measurement which contrasts with the surficial nature of many other covariates. Soils attenuate radiometric flux by virtue of their bulk density (and associated carbon content) and water saturation level. The high attenuation levels in low density, wet peat materials give rise to a distinctive soil response. Here an entirely physics-based assessment of flux attenuation is carried out both theoretically and empirically. Radiometric data from the ongoing Tellus airborne survey of Ireland are used. The study area is characterised by an extensive assemblage of discrete raised peat bogs in a framework of largely mineral soils. Peat is detected by a property contrast with adjacent soils and so we consider all soils within the study area. The relatively low lateral resolution of the airborne data is demonstrated by modelling and we examine the behaviour of a combined spatial derivative of the data. The procedure allows the identification of the edges of the 128 peat polygons considered and indicates other additional potential areas of subsurface peat. The data appear to resolve the differences that exist across three available soil/peat databases that are used for the validation of the results obtained.

Diversity and Biological Activities of Mold Isolated from Bilanko and Ngamakala Peat Bog Soils (Republic of Congo)

Diversity and Biological Activities of Mold Isolated from Bilanko and Ngamakala Peat Bog Soils (Republic of Congo)

Source, preservation and re-suspension of 239,240Pu in a well dated peat core collected from northwest China

Owning to the high radiotoxicity in high concentrations, as well as the irreplaceability in quantifying soil erosion rates, demarcating the Anthropocene, and dating of sediment, anthropogenic 239,240Pu have drawn high attention. However, the source in specific areas, preservation characteristics in different environment media, and re-distribution process after the cessation of atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, have not been fully understood, which obscures the exact start year, temporal variation, and deposition flux of 239,240Pu in sedimentary records, and hinders the wide application of 239,240Pu in environment study. A sediment core from the Yiwu peat bog with dominance of atmospheric deposition in the source material, simple sedimentary environment, and high dust deposition flux, was collected to examine the 239,240Pu, and explore the source, preservation, and re-distribution process. The double peaks of 239,240Pu in 1952 CE and 1963 CE, as well as 240Pu/239Pu ratios of 0.163–0.190 with an average of 0.177 ± 0.010 confirmed that the 239,240Pu source originated predominantly from global fallout. The minimal vertical migration of plutonium in the Yiwu peat core was attributed to the near-neutral pH condition. The high inventory of 128 ± 7 Bq m−2, as well as the atypical negative correlation between 239,240Pu concentrations and organic matter content (r = − 0.79, P < 0.01), was attributed to the contribution of 239,240Pu re-suspended with dust from the neighboring Gobi Desert, particularly in the cold and dry years. The total re-suspended 239,240Pu was estimated to be 77 Bq m−2, exceeding the direct fallout level of 51 Bq m−2 during 1945–2016 CE. In this study, the specified deposition pattern of 239,240Pu after the cessation of atmospheric nuclear weapons was established, providing an important standard for multiple environmental studies, and the re-suspended amount of 239,240Pu in a typical arid area was quantified for the first time.

Living and Dying as Compost in the Torne Valley Mires

This article takes Donna Haraway’s claim that “We are compost” as a literal statement. Combining Human-Plant Studies (HPS) with the study of children’s literature, the article examines a novel set in the European Arctic as starting point for imagining what it means to live as compost. In the novel, Som om jag inte fanns [As though I wasn’t there] by Kerstin Johansson i Backe, a grieving girl, Elina, seeks out her father’s spirit in a sphagnum bog. The article draws parallels between Elina’s actions and storying activities in the mire and human-moss relationships. These relationships are reflected against indigenous ways of understanding the meshing of the worlds of the living and dead, as well as the meshing of humans with other living organisms. In doing so, it opens up a richer understand of human-plant relations, but also points out the risks of becoming one with the world

Chara virgata (Charophyceae, Characeae) – new species record for the south of the Far East (the Kurils), unusual stem cortex deformation

Chara virgata Kütz. was found in a sphagnum bog on Urup Island of the Kurils. This is a first species record of charophytes for the Sakhalin Region and new species record for the south of the Far East. The plants have notable deformation of stem cortex at old parts rarely noted for Chara L. and unknown for this species.

Complex Microlandscape as a Structural Unit of the Study of Spatiotemporal Development of an Ombrotrophic Suboceanic Bog

Ombrotrophic suboceanic bogs are distinguished by a high diversity of complex microlandscapes within the bog massif. Each complex microlandscape is a separate intrabog ecosystem with a specific set of parameters and relationships. This study aims to assess the specifics of the characteristics and parameters of the complex microlandscapes as part of an ombrotrophic suboceanic Sphagnum bog and as stages of bog morphogenesis, and to establish the internal relationships and their relationship with external environmental factors. A comprehensive multidisciplinary approach was used to assess the functioning of the complex microlandscapes. It was found that the relationship with the air temperature is closer than with the bog water table dynamics. It was shown that the morphometric parameters of perennial dwarf shrubs can serve as indicators of the stages of development of bogs. The processes of the self-regulation of complex microlandscapes are weakened with the age of the complex microlandscape, as evidenced by an increase in the amplitude of temperature fluctuations and the level of bog waters, as well as the key physicochemical parameters of the peat deposit. This leads to a gradual, slow reorientation of the physicochemical processes occurring in the deposit, from the deposition of organic matter to the decomposition of peat biomass.

Lake food web structure in Teici Nature reserve, Latvia: fish presence shapes functioning of pristine bog lake food webs

AbstractStudies on the effects of fish presence on lake ecosystems are widespread but only a few have been conducted in pristine aquatic environments. We employed Ecopath model for assessing food web structure in two fish-inhabited and one fishless lake in a pristine bog area. We hypothesized that: (a) fish absence will raise trophic positions of macroinvertebrate predators; (b) fish predation will lead to higher overall predation rates on zooplankton; (c) fish predation on large bodied zooplankton will result in top-down cascading effect, increasing phytoplankton biomasses. We found that fish have direct and indirect effects on zoobenthic communities. Chironomid biomass was greater and predatory macroinvertebrate groups had a higher trophic level in the fishless lake than in fish-inhabited lakes. Consumption rates of the benthic consumer fraction were greater than that of the planktonic fraction in the fishless lake; the opposite was found in the two lakes with fish. No effects of fish presence on zooplankton were found and we explain this partly by the low water transparency masking the impact of fish. Terrestrial insects constituted a crucial part of adult fish diet and we conclude that terrestrial secondary production contributes to the trophic support of fish communities in pristine bog lakes.

The main results of monitoring the power of the active layer at CALM sites of the Nadymsky object

Monitoring of the thickness of the active layer within the lake-marsh type of terrain in the northern taiga was carried out at three sites organized in 1997, 2013 and 2022. In these areas, two types of tracts are distinguished: frozen peat bogs and swampy runoff hollows with a lowered roof of permafrost (the cross-section of the sites is the same type, the only difference is in the thickness of the peat). The work methodology complied with the unified protocol of the international CALM program. Additionally, the surface settlement was assessed (based on leveling from a local benchmark), geophysical studies were carried out and the temperature of the active layer rocks was measured at different gullies. In swampy runoff hollows, hollows with open water and on specific mineral spots within peat bogs, the depth of the permafrost roof is 3–10 m. At the boundaries of peat bogs and in swampy runoff hollows, the thawing depth exceeds 2 m, and on peat bogs it varies from 0.8 to 1.6 m depending on the thickness of the organic layer and the condition of the ground cover. On peatlands with an organic layer more than 1 m thick and a continuous ground cover, the depth of the seasonal thawing layer in some places does not exceed 0.4 m. These peatlands respond poorly to climate change. The depth of the permafrost roof within thin peat bogs (less than 0.5 m of peat) with oppressed vegetation cover is currently more than 2 m, marking the beginning of the replacement of the seasonally thawed layer with seasonally frozen and the formation of areas with a lowered permafrost roof. Monitoring of soil temperatures in such areas has showed that a random combination of climatic factors in individual years can lead to short-term (two years) new formation of permafrost or the merging of seasonal permafrost with permafrost. Thus, the formation of non-merging permafrost is of a reciprocating nature.

Is Recent Warming Exceeding the Range of the Past 125,000 Years?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that the latest decade was warmer than any multi-century period over the past 125,000 years. This statement rests on a comparison of modern instrumental measurements against the course of past temperatures reconstructed from natural proxy archives, such as lake and marine sediments, and peat bogs. Here, we evaluate this comparison with a focus on the hundreds of proxy records developed by paleoclimatologists across the globe to reconstruct climate variability over the Holocene (12,000 years) and preceded by the Last Glacial Period (125,000 years). Although the existing proxy data provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct low-frequency climate variability on centennial timescales, they lack temporal resolution and dating precision for contextualizing the most recent temperature extremes. While the IPCC’s conclusion on the uniqueness of latest-decade warming is thus not supported by comparison with these smoothed paleotemperatures, it is still likely correct as ice core-derived forcing timeseries show that greenhouse gases were not elevated during any pre-instrumental period of the Holocene.

The first insights into the diversity of algae in the oligotrophic sphagnum bog Chorne Bagno (Zacharovany krai National Nature Park, Transcarpathian Region, Ukraine)

The paper presents the results of the first algofloristic study of one of the deepest oligotrophic upland sphagnum bogs in Ukraine: Chorne Bagno, located within the territory of the Zacharovany Krai National Nature Park. In 2019, the Chorne Bagno hydrological landmark of national significance was included in the list of internationally important wetlands (Ramsar Convention). In the winter periphyton, 72 species (75 intraspecific taxa, ist) of algae were recorded: 64 species of the Bacillariophyta division, belonging to 28 genera, 16 families, 10 orders, and 3 classes, as well as 9 species (11 ist) of the Charophyta division, belonging to 3 genera, 1 family, 1 order, and 1 class. Three species were identified as new to the territory of Ukraine: Luticola charlatii (M.Peragallo) Metzeltin et Lang.-Bert., L. muticopsis (Van Heurck) Mann in Round, Crawford et Mann, and Neidium septentrionale Cleve-Euler. Also noted were findings of rare diatom species for the flora of Ukraine, including Eunotia cristagalli Cleve, Luticola acidoclinata Lang.-Bert. in Lang.-Bert. et Metzeltin, Hantzschia abundans Lange-Bertalot, Nedium longipens, Nitzchia perminuta (Grunow) M.Peragallo, Pinnularia episcopalis Cleve, and Psamothidium helveticum (Hustedt) Bukhtiyarova et Round. The publication is illustrated with original photographs.

Microbial abundances and carbon use under ambient temperature or experimental warming in a southern boreal peatland

Organic peat soils occupy relatively little of the global land surface area but store vast amounts of soil carbon in northern latitudes where climate is warming at a rapid pace. Warming may result in strong positive feedbacks of carbon loss and global climate change driven by microbial processes if warming alters the balance between primary productivity and decomposition. To elucidate effects of warming on the microbial communities mediating peat carbon dynamics, we explored the abundance of broad microbial groups and their source of carbon (i.e. old carbon versus more recently fixed photosynthate) using microbial lipid analysis (δ13C PLFA) of peat samples under ambient temperatures and before/after initiation of experimental peat warming (+ 2.25, + 4.5, + 6.75, and + 9 °C). This analysis occurred over a profile to 2 m depth in an undrained, ombrotrophic peat bog in northern Minnesota. We found that the total microbial biomass and individual indicator lipid abundances were stratified by depth and strongly correlated to temperature under ambient conditions. However, under experimental warming, statistically significant effects of temperature on the microbial community were sporadic and inconsistent. For example, 3 months after experimental warming the relative abundance of Gram-negative bacterial indicators across depth combined and > 50 cm depth and Gram-positive bacterial indicators at 20–50 cm depth showed significant positive relationships to temperature. At that same timepoint, however, the relative abundance of Actinobacterial indicators across depth showed a significant negative relationship to temperature. After 10 months of experimental warming, the relative abundance of fungal biomarkers was positively related to temperature in all depths combined, and the absolute abundance of anaerobic bacteria declined with increasing temperature in the 20–50 cm depth interval. The lack of observed response in the broader microbial community may suggest that at least initially, microbial community structure with peat depth in these peatlands is driven more by bulk density and soil water content than temperature. Alternatively, the lack of broad microbial community response may simply represent a lag period, with more change to come in the future. The long-term trajectory of microbial response to warming in this ecosystem then could either be direct, after this initial lag time, or indirect through other physical or biogeochemical changes in the peat profile. These initial results provide an important baseline against which to measure long-term microbial community and carbon-cycling responses to warming and elevated CO2.

The use of the GEST method to estimate greenhouse gases uptake or emissions in the absence of data for a raised bog

The paper is designed to present a method to estimate greenhouse gases (GHG) uptake or emissions in the absence of data for peat bog areas (GEST method). The paper presents the research results produced by a project on “Limiting CO2 emissions via the renaturalisation of peat bogs on the Eastern and Central European Plain”. The study area consisted of three peat bogs: Kluki, Ciemińskie Błota, and Wielkie Bagno (Słowiński National Park). The GEST method relies on the estimation of gas emissions on the basis of vegetation and water levels and greenhouse gas coefficients for each given habitat type provided in the research literature. The greenhouse gas balance was calculated for a baseline scenario assuming the lack of human impact and for a scenario taking into account human impact in the form of peat bog preservation. Initial research results indicate that there is a total of 41 GESTs in the studied bog areas and that a reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 12% will occur following what is known as renaturalisation by raising the groundwater level, felling of trees across the bog, and making changes in habitats.

Hydrological balance and runoff from a montane peat bog traced by water temperature

ABSTRACT Peatlands are hydrologically significant landscape units in mountain headwater catchments in Central Europe. In this study, the contribution of a peat bog to runoff and its annual water balance were analysed and compared with those of a forested mineral soil hillslope. A mixing model method using the water temperature as a tracer was applied, and the resulting ratio of peat bog water in streams was incorporated into a hydrological model. The mean peat bog contribution during baseflow ranged from 33.4% during the cold season to 48.9% during the warm season, while during runoff events, the contribution reached over 83%. The simulated water balance results showed a higher actual evapotranspiration on the mineral hillslope, which suggests a higher total runoff from the peat bog (1523 versus 1327 mm/year on the mineral hillslope). The results of this study enable more reliable modelling assessments of peatland reactions to climate change.