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Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions. It is composed mainly of wetland vegetation: principally bog plants including mosses, sedges and shrubs. As it accumulates, the peat holds water. This slowly creates wetter conditions that allow the area of wetland to expand.
In addition, bogs, like all wetlands, develop anaerobic soil conditions, which produces slower anaerobic decay rather than aerobic microbial action. Peat moss can also acidify its surroundings by taking up cations, such as calcium and magnesium, and releasing hydrogen ions. Under the right conditions, peat can accumulate to a depth of many meters.
The main constituents of the peat are rootless peat mosses that grow slowly in height whilst at the same time the lower layer becomes peat as the air is excluded. Depending on the geographical location, various species of peat moss are involved in making a raised bog. The growth rate of the peat layer is only about a millimetre per year.
Thus, while a bog is always acidic and nutrient-poor, a fen may be slightly acidic, neutral, or alkaline, and either nutrient-poor or nutrient-rich. [8] All mires are initially fens when the peat starts to form, and may turn into bogs once the height of the peat layer reaches above the surrounding land.
Ireland's Bord na Móna ("peat board") was one of the first companies to mechanically harvest peat, which is being phased out. [31] 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.
The pH of water, peat, and/or soil is usually acidic to neutral in mires with ribbed bog moss, although ribbed bog moss tolerates mildly alkaline conditions. For example, ribbed bog moss grows in extremely acidic peatlands overlying permafrost in spruce taiga of Alaska but also grows in calcareous bogs in Birds Hill Provincial Park.
Farmer and TikTok creator Jules Giuliano developed Rosy Soil to take the agricultural world one step closer to becoming eco-friendly. Peat Moss Isn t Great for the Planet but There s a More ...
They are much more acidic than their rich counterparts, with a pH of approximately 5.5 to 4. [12] Peat in poor fens tends to be thicker than that of rich fens, which cuts off vegetation access to the mineral-rich soil underneath. [11] In addition, the thicker peat reduces the influence of mineral-rich groundwater that buffers the pH. [11]
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