Carbon stored in peatlands formed by terrestrialization: the importance of buried lake sediments

Abstract:

A lot of efforts have been made over the last few decades to quantify the amount of carbon stored in soils, including in peat-producing systems. Estimates of soil carbon storage at the landscape scale has to take into account all buried carbon pools, including deep-buried lake sediments found under many peatlands that formed by terrestrialization. To illustrate the importance of buried lake sediments in the overall carbon storage of a peatland site, we studied a small peat swamp located in Gatineau Park (Quebec, Canada), the Folly peatland (45°27’18.12”N 75°46’57.38’’W). This 7 ha peatland developed from a small lake that appeared after the postglacial Champlain Sea receded from the region, about 12 200 years ago. Its development followed a classical terrestrialization sequence and its hydrology has been stable since peat inception. A profile of over 8.5 m of organic matter was collected at the site, of which 2.5 m is peat and the rest is composed of lake sediments (gyttja). With the exception of a few tephra layers, the organic matter content exceeds 75 % of dry weight for the entire profile. Although it constitutes only 30 % of the profile depth, peat contains 48 % of the buried carbon because of its higher bulk density, and peat carbon accumulated at a rate of 88 g C m^-2 yr^-1. Overall, the site carbon density (including buried lake sediments) is 172 kg C m^-2, a value comparable to the carbon density of many peatlands with much deeper peat profiles. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of global peatland carbon inventories and peatland biogeochemistry.