Humification indicators of peat

Authors:
Jānis Šīre and Māris Kļaviņs

Book:
After Wise Use – The Future of Peatlands, Proceedings of the 13th International Peat Congress: Chemical, Physical and Biological Characteristics of Peat

Keywords:
decomposition-degree, humification-degree, peat

Documentfile:
Šīre et al. 2008: Humification indicators of peat

Summary:

An important parameter of organic matter in soils, peat, and fossil carbon-containing deposits is their decompo- sition degree that describes their transformation intensity –the humification degree of original living organic matter. In this article approaches to the analysis of humification degree of thoroughly described and 14C dated peat columns extracted from several bogs in Latvia have been investigated and compared. A new humification indicator is suggested: a ratio of the total amount of organic matter in peat in respect to the amount of humic substances.