Authors:
Inese Silamikele, Maris Klavins, Laimdota Kalnina, Eliza Kuske and Olgerts Nikodemus
Book:
After Wise Use – The Future of Peatlands, Proceedings of the 13th International Peat Congress: Pristine Mire Landscapes
Venue:
Tullamore, Ireland
Keywords:
latvia, peat-properties, raised-bogs
Documentfile:
Silamikele 2008: The impact of environmental factors on metal accumulation and peat properties
Summary:
Interdisciplinary peat studies were carried out in 6 bogs in central and north eastern part of Latvia. Coring and peat sampling has been done by peat sampler, but the obtained monoliths was subdivided into slices and the peat samples were analyzed for their botanical composition, presence of palinological indicators, elemental composition (C, H, N, and S), ash content, metal content; they were dated (14C) and humic acids (HA) were extracted. In addition, isolated humic acids were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV–Vis spectroscopy (E4/E6 ratio). Metal accumulation character indicate recent accumulation of trace elements of dominantly anthropogenic origin, however elements such as Fe, Zn, Mn are at higher values in deeper layers.