History of tropical peatland in Southeast Asia

Authors:
Furukawa Hisao

Book:
Proceedings of the 15th International Peat Congress

Venue:
Kuching

Keywords:
age, early-and-modern-ways-of-exploitation, stratigraphy

Documentfile:
ipc16a-414p4-8hisao.pdf

Summary:

SUMMARY

Geohistory of tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia and a historical retrospect of the exploitation are presented.

Keywords: Age, stratigraphy, early and modern ways of exploitation.

INTRODUCTION

Coastal plains of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo bordering the Sunda Sea were, and still are

partly, the realm of swamp forests which included mangrove at seaward outskirts, freshwater swamp forests in the

tidal zone, and peat swamp forests inland. Under natural conditions, the ground surface is covered by tropical

woody peat layers of varying thickness. These peatlands emerged through the Holocene submersion of the vast and

flat terrains at the periphery of the former Sunda Land, and the productive tropical rain forests which expanded over…