Premium
The importance of sub‐peat carbon storage as shown by data from D artmoor, UK
Author(s) -
Fyfe R. M.,
Coombe R.,
Davies H.,
Parry L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/sum.12091
Subject(s) - peat , carbon fibers , bulk density , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , soil water , boreal , carbon sequestration , soil carbon , soil science , geology , carbon dioxide , ecology , paleontology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , composite number , composite material , biology
Peatlands are highly valued for their range of ecosystem services, including distinctive biodiversity, agricultural uses, recreational amenities, water provision, river flow regulation and their capacity to store carbon. There have been a range of estimates of carbon stored in peatlands in the U nited K ingdom, but uncertainties remain, in particular with regard to depth and bulk density of peat. In addition, very few studies consider the full profile with depth in carbon auditing. The importance of sub‐peat soils within peatland carbon stores has been recognized, but remains poorly understood and is included rarely within peatland carbon audits. This study examines the importance of the carbon store based on a study of blanket peat on D artmoor, UK , by estimating peat depths in a 4 × 1 km survey area using ground penetrating radar ( GPR ), extraction of 43 cores across a range of peat depth, and estimation of carbon densities based on measures of loss‐on‐ignition and bulk density. Comparison of GPR estimates of peat depth with core depths shows excellent agreement, to provide the basis for a detailed understanding of the distribution of peat depths within the survey area. Carbon densities of the sub‐peat soils are on average 78 and 53 kg C/m 3 for the overlying blanket peat. There is considerable spatial variability in the estimates of total carbon from each core across the survey area, with values ranging between 56.5 kg C/m 2 (1.01 m total depth of peat and soil) and 524 kg C/m 2 (6.63 m total depth). Sub‐peat soil carbon represents between 4 and 28 per cent (mean 13.5) of the total carbon stored, with greater values for shallower peat. The results indicate a significant and previously unaccounted store of carbon within blanket peat regions which should be included in future calculations of overall carbon storage. It is argued that this store needs to be considered in carbon audits.