Organic soils in Germany, their distribution and carbon stocks

Roßkopf, Niko; Fell, Holger; Zeitz, Jutta

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.004

Cited by 40 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…It is also the basis for topological peatland predictor variables, i.e., the fraction of organic soils in different buffer sizes as well as the dip well distance to the edge of the peatland. Information about the peatland type and the substrate at the peat base is presented in more detail in a newly compiled raster map of organic soils (Roßkopf et al, 2014) and was thus extracted from this map. Peatland types were aggregated into five classes: lowland bog (North German Plains and Alpine Forelands), upland bog (Central Uplands and Alps), fen neighboring surface water, fen without neighboring surface water, and a class of "other organic soils" that do not fulfill the C content and thickness criteria to be classified as peatland.…”

Section: Peatland Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-scale regionalization of water table depth in peatlands optimized for greenhouse gas emission upscaling

Bechtold¹,

Tiemeyer²,

Laggner³

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Fluxes of the three main greenhouse gases (GHG) CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O from peat and other soils with high organic carbon contents are strongly controlled by water table depth. Information about the spatial distribution of water level is thus a crucial input parameter when upscaling GHG emissions to large scales. Here, we investigate the potential of statistical modeling for the regionalization of water levels in organic soils when data covers only a small fraction of the peatlands of the final map. Our study area is Germany. Phreatic water level data from 53 peatlands in Germany were compiled in a new data set comprising 1094 dip wells and 7155 years of data. For each dip well, numerous possible predictor variables were determined using nationally available data sources, which included information about land cover, ditch network, protected areas, topography, peatland characteristics and climatic boundary conditions. We applied boosted regression trees to identify dependencies between predictor variables and dip-well-specific long-term annual mean water level (WL) as well as a transformed form (WL t ). The latter was obtained by assuming a hypothetical GHG transfer function and is linearly related to GHG emissions. Our results demonstrate that model calibration on WL t is superior. It increases the explained variance of the water level in the sensitive range for GHG emissions and avoids model bias in subsequent GHG upscaling. The final model explained 45 % of WL t variance and was built on nine predictor variables that are based on information about land cover, peatland characteristics, drainage network, topography and climatic boundary conditions. Their individual effects on WL t and the observed parameter interactions provide insight into natural and anthropogenic boundary conditions that control water levels in organic soils. Our study also demonstrates that a large fraction of the observed WL t variance cannot be explained by nationally available predictor variables and that predictors with stronger WL t indication, relying, for example, on detailed water management maps and remote sensing products, are needed to substantially improve model predictive performance.

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Section: Peatland Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-scale regionalization of water table depth in peatlands optimized for greenhouse gas emission upscaling

Bechtold¹,

Tiemeyer²,

Laggner³

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…The hilly plateau bordering the valley rises to heights of 25 m and more within a distance of 1500 m and supplies groundwater to springs at the edge of the valley, a typical situation in these river valleys [31,32]. The water supply must have been plentiful and stable, so that the original peat remained slightly decomposed with a low bulk density of~100 mg/cm 3 compared to the reported 140-180 mg/cm 3 from other fen sites [31,33]. Likely, the large water supply could not be cut completely following drainage.…”

Section: Loss Of Organic Matter and Carbonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Balances of a Drained and a Rewetted Peatland: on Former Losses and Recent Gains

et al. 2020

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Drained peatlands are important sources of greenhouse gases and are rewetted to curb these emissions. We study one drained and one rewetted fen in terms of losses—and, after rewetting—gains of organic matter (OM), carbon (C), and peat thickness. We determined bulk density (BD) and ash/OM (and C/OM) ratios for 0.5 cm thick contiguous slices from peat monoliths to calculate losses. Whereas one site has lost 28.5 kg OM m−2 corresponding to annual emissions of ~10 t CO2 ha−1 a−1 over 50 years of effective drainage, the other site has lost 102 kg OM m−2, corresponding to an annual loss of ~30 t CO2 ha−1 a−1 for 30 years of intensive drainage and 6 t CO2 ha−1 a−1 during ~225 years of weak drainage before that. Height losses ranged from 43 to 162 cm. In the 20 years after rewetting, 2.12 kg C m−2 was accumulated, equaling an average annual uptake of ~0.4 kg CO2 m−2 a−1. The results indicate that rewetting can lead to carbon accumulation in fens. This sink function is only small compared with the high emissions that are avoided through rewetting.

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“…This storage function is significantly reduced in regions where peatlands are drained for agriculture. In Germany, drainage of peatlands is particularly severe and is accompanied by a substantial loss of carbon (Roßkopf, Fell and Zeitz ; Fell et al . ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This * E-mail: judith.walter.1@agrar.hu-berlin.de storage function is significantly reduced in regions where peatlands are drained for agriculture. In Germany, drainage of peatlands is particularly severe and is accompanied by a substantial loss of carbon (Roßkopf, Fell and Zeitz 2015;Fell et al 2016). As a consequence of aerobic peat decomposition, the carbon is mainly released as carbon dioxide (Joosten and Couwenberg 2008;Tiemeyer et al 2016) and dissolved organic matter (Dawson et al 2004;Schwalm and Zeitz 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between electrical conductivity and water content of peat and gyttja: implications for electrical surveys of drained peatlands

Walter

Lück

Heller

et al. 2019

Near Surface Geophysics

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The application of electrical resistivity tomography to peatlands supports conventional coring by providing data on the current condition of peatlands, including data on stratigraphy, peat properties and thickness of organic deposits. Data on the current condition of drained peatlands are particularly required to improve estimates of carbon storage as well as losses and emissions from agriculturally used peatlands. However, most of the studies focusing on electrical resistivity tomography surveys have been conducted on natural peatlands with higher groundwater levels. Peatlands drained for agriculture have not often been studied using geophysical techniques. Drained sites are characterized by low groundwater levels and high groundwater fluctuations during the year, which lead to varying levels of water saturation. To validate better electrical resistivity tomography surveys of drained peatlands, the aim of this laboratory study is to investigate the influence of varying water saturation levels on electrical conductivity (reciprocal of resistivity) for a variety of peat and gyttja types, as well as for different degrees of peat decomposition. Results show that different levels of water saturation strongly influence bulk electrical conductivity. Distinct differences in this relationship exist between peat and gyttja substrates and between different degrees of peat decomposition. Peat shows an exponential relationship for all degrees of decomposition, whereas gyttja, in particular organic‐rich gyttja, is characterized by a rather unimodal relationship. The slopes for the relationship between electrical conductivity and water content are steeper at high degrees of decomposition than for peat of low degrees of decomposition. These results have direct implications for field electrical resistivity tomography surveys. In drained peatlands that are strongly susceptible to drying, electrical resistivity tomography surveys have a high potential to monitor the actual field water content. In addition, at comparable water saturations, high or low degrees of decomposition can be inferred from electrical conductivity.

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Organic soils in Germany, their distribution and carbon stocks

Cited by 40 publications

References 15 publications

Large-scale regionalization of water table depth in peatlands optimized for greenhouse gas emission upscaling

Large-scale regionalization of water table depth in peatlands optimized for greenhouse gas emission upscaling

Mass Balances of a Drained and a Rewetted Peatland: on Former Losses and Recent Gains

Relationship between electrical conductivity and water content of peat and gyttja: implications for electrical surveys of drained peatlands

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