Surface mapping, organic matter and water stocks in peatlands of the Serra do Espinhaço meridional - Brazil

Abstract

SUMMARYPeatlands are soil environments that store carbon and large amounts of water, due to their composition (90 % water), low hydraulic conductivity and a spongelike behavior. It is estimated that peat bogs cover approximately 4.2 % of the Earth's surface and stock 28.4 % of the soil carbon of the planet. Approximately 612 000 ha of peatlands have been mapped in Brazil, but the peat bogs in the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional (SdEM) were not included. The objective of this study was to map the peat bogs of the northern part of the SdEM and estimate the organic matter pools and water volume they stock. The peat bogs were pre-identified and mapped by GIS and remote sensing techniques, using ArcGIS 9.3, ENVI 4.5 and GPS Track Maker Pro software and the maps validated in the field. Six peat bogs were mapped in detail (1:20,000 and 1:5,000) by transects spaced 100 m and each transect were determined every 20 m, the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates, depth and samples collected for characterization and determination of organic matter, according to the Brazilian System of Soil Classification. In the northern part of SdEM, 14,287.55 ha of peatlands were mapped, distributed over 1,180,109 ha, representing 1.

Characterization of Headwaters Peats of the Rio Araçuaí, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

“…These results are within the range of values found for tropical peatlands (Campos et al, 2010;Horák et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2013b) and temperate peatlands (Tolonen, 1979;Armentano and Menges, 1986;Gorham, 1991;Pontevedra-Pombal, 2002). However, the CRP, perhaps because it is younger, has higher RVG and RCA in the two vegetation types in relation to the CCCB (Table 3).…”

“…In the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional -SdEM (Espinhaço Meridional Range), the formation of the geological basis that contained the mires occurred during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras (Silva, 2005b;Horák et al, 2011). Silva et al (2013b), mapped 14,288 ha of peatlands, distributed along the SdEM, with a stock of 6,120,167 t of organic matter (428 t ha -1 ) and storage of 142,138,262 m 3 of water (approximately 10,000 m 3 ha -1 ). These peatlands are colonized by vegetation known as moist grassland and semideciduous seasonal forest (Silva et al, 2013a) and are at various stages of preservation since they are located under full protection in conservation areas, as well as outside them, being used as pastures (Bispo, 2013).…”

Histosols in an Upper Montane Environment in the Itatiaia Plateau

“…However, Histosols can be formed (Simas et al, 2005;Benites et al, 2007;Chimner and Karberg, 2008;Scheer et al, 2011) by favoring the contribution of organic matter in detriment to its transformation, thus leading to its accumulation (Silva et al, 2013;Weissert and Disney, 2013;Bispo et al, 2015). In addition, they form as a result of a decrease in decomposition rates at low temperatures, while a constant supply of organic matter is maintained (Benites et al, 2007;Silva et al, 2009;Weissert and Disney, 2013;Benavides and Vitt, 2014;Cooper et al, 2015;Hribljan et al, 2016;).…”

“…It is a record of the origin, identity, and characteristics of past vegetation (Pessenda et al, 2004), since plants take up C differently according to their photosynthetic cycle (C 3 , C 4 , and CAM). From the natural abundance of isotopes of C and N in the SOM, it is possible to make inferences regarding the originating plants by establishing natural succession models (Pessenda et al, 2004;Silva et al, 2013). The interpretation of these analyses ( 12 C, 13 C, 14 N, and 15 N) reveals information about previous vegetation and, when temporally synchronized with 14 C lifetimes, may indicate possible local environmental changes (Francisquini et al, 2014;França et al, 2015).…”

Extração e quantificação de alumínio trocável em Organossolos

“…No Brasil, esses solos ocupam aproximadamente 611.883 ha e, por funcionarem como reservatórios de água, são relevantes em termos ambientais (Silva et al, 2013). Além disso, por participarem efetivamente do ciclo do C, os Organossolos funcionam como arquivo cronológico da evolução das paisagens, ao guardar marcas de mudanças climáticas pretéritas (Horák et al, 2011).…”