Peat is an organic sedimentary substance composed predominantly of partially decomposed plant material that accumulates under waterlogged, anoxic, and typically acidic conditions, most commonly in peatlands and bogs. It is characterized by high moisture content, low bulk density, high porosity, and significant carbon storage in the form of lignocellulosic macromolecules and humic substances. Peat’s chemical composition and degree of humification vary with botanical origin, hydrology, and decomposition stage, influencing its cation-exchange capacity, thermal properties, and behavior as a carbon reservoir, soil amendment, or precursor to coal in geological coalification processes.
Thousands of holes are appearing in the Pennine hills, as part of efforts to improve carbon storage by restoring damaged peatland.
Environment
May 24, 2026
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Push a metal corer into a peatland and you pull up something remarkable: a dark, dense, sponge-like material made of partly decomposed plants. This peat is rich in carbon. In some places, that peat has been building up for ...
Environment
Apr 28, 2026
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By analyzing peat cores, researchers have shown how populations of nesting seabirds have fluctuated on a sub-Antarctic island over 8,000 years. They found that bird numbers rose and fell alongside shifts in climate, offering ...
Environment
Apr 15, 2026
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Organic soils cover less than 9% of Norway's land area, and about 65,000 hectares are currently used as agricultural land. Emissions from these areas are presently estimated at more than 2 million tons of CO₂ equivalents ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 15, 2026
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New research from the University of St Andrews has shown that an important group of peatlands in the western Amazonia region of Peru developed more recently than many other peatlands in the tropics. Published in the journal ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 13, 2026
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Research led by the University of Cambridge and the RSPB shows that farming wetland-adapted crops on wetter peat—known as paludiculture—can support richer and more diverse bird communities than drained grassland.
Plants & Animals
Mar 12, 2026
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14
The Amazon rainforest is famous for storing massive amounts of carbon in its trees and soils, helping regulate the global climate. Yet a paper published in New Phytologist shows that one of South America's largest carbon-storing ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 12, 2026
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In the face of climate change, permafrost peatland wildfires could play more of a role in the destructive cycle of global warming, University of Alberta research suggests.
Earth Sciences
Mar 5, 2026
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25
Wildfires in the northern boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia may be more damaging to the climate than previously thought, a new UC Berkeley-led study suggests. That's because these fires don't just ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 27, 2026
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24
Researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered for the first time that large blackwater lakes in the extensive peatlands of the central Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon. To date, climate researchers had assumed that ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 23, 2026
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