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Peat Accumulation in Northern Wetlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lynn Ovenden
Lynn Ovenden*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0E8
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Abstract

Mean long-term rates of peat accumulation are higher in boreal and temperate peat deposits than in subarctic regions of Canada, although peatlands are extensive in the subarctic. Climatic change probably accounts for the development of southern peatlands during the middle to late Holocene and for the late Holocene decline in growth of many subarctic peat deposits. In northwestern peat deposits, peat of wet Sphagnum lawns and treed wetlands tended to accumulate more rapidly than peat of Sphagnum hummocks and sedge fens. Long-term net rates of carbon accumulation in Canadian peatlands typically range from 10 to 35 g C/m2/yr.

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Articles
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Quaternary Research , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , May 1990, pp. 377 - 386
Copyright
University of Washington

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