Re-thinking the Record: Accumulation of Radiometric Tracers and Other Atmospherically Supplied Elements in Peatlands

Authors:
Sophia Hansson, Jim Kaste and Richard Bindler

Book:
Proceedings of the 14th International Peat Congress

Venue:
Stockholm

Keywords:
beryllium, geochemistry, lead, mercury, peat

Documentfile:
Hansson 2012: Re-thinking the Record: Accumulation of Radiometric Tracers and Other Atmospherically Supplied Elements in Peatlan

Summary:

Theme I.  Inventory, stratigraphy and conservation of mires and peatlands

SUMMARY

The past decade has seen a rapid increase in interest in the biogeochemical record preserved in peat, particularly as it relates to carbon dynamics and environmental changes. However, we still lack a complete understanding of the basic biogeochemical processes and their effect on trace element distributions. Are peat archives an absolute or relative record and what temporal resolution is realistic to interpret by using peat cores? By analyzing radiometric isotopes along with a range of major, minor and trace elements in surface peat cores from a raised bog, we address the question of representativity of single cores and the reliability of dating decadal scale changes within them.