Cove Bog o:t^111. Heath. FRANKLIN. OXFORD. Denbo. Heath. HANCOCK. WALDO. KENNEBEC. O. Great. ,lruDRO-. SCOGGIN. LINCOLN. CUMEERLAND c,.
BULLETIN 33
PEAT ACCUMULATION RATES SELECTED MAINE PEAT DEPOS TS
t3v j( irnrno
Tolonen ttonald B. Davis Lissa S. Widoff
I
\,
lter A. Anderson, State Ceologist Maine Ceological Survey
Wa
DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
BULLETIN
33
PEAT ACCUMULATION RATES IN SELECTED MAINE PEAT DEPOSITS
by
Kinno Tolonen
Departnent of Botany University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland Ronald B. Davis
Lissa S. Widoff
Institute for Quaternary Studies and
Departnent of Botany and Plant Pathology
University of Maine at
Orono
Orono, Maine
Maine Geological DEPARTT,IENT
Wa1ter
Sur^lreY
OF CONSERVATION
A. Anderson, State Geologist 1
988
policies of Maine and the United States prohibit discrimination in Departnent of Conservation prograns and/or enployment because of racer religionr national originr sexr ager or The laws and
handS.cap. Any person who believes discrimi.nation has occurred should contact the Comnissioner, l{aine Departnent of Conservation' Station #22, Augusta, Maine 04333; Telephone lzoZ) 289-2211.
CONTENTS
PUfpOSe
Of StUdyo
oooo' '
o. o o o o o..
o o. . r . o o o o. o. ..
IntfOdUCti-Ono
o.. o o o o.. ' o...
LOCatiOn Of StUdy SiteS. . o . . o, . . . o . o. o. o. o o.. o.
o.......
MethOdOlogy..
Peat Coring and SectionioS. of SamPleso
oo
.'
o
o,
o
calculati-on
'
13
o
ooooo
Growth and Yie1d Studi€s. WOfk.
o
14
o
of Net Accumulation Rates
DeCOmpOSitiOn StUdi€S. PfeViOUS
o
ooooo
.. o o' o Peat Dating Methods. o o o. " o ' o '
Drying
o
o..
o oo.o
o. o.o
o...
ooo
o. o o...r
oo
of
Peat.
.
o
o.
oo
o. oo..
o
and
DiSCUSSiOn..
ChfOnOlOgy.....
o.
o
ooo.
oo oo..
o o. o.
ACCUmUlatiOn RateSo o.
ooo
o..
o
"'15
15
16
o
17
o. o.or
17
o o . o o ..
o o o o o o. o o. o ..
"
15 16
..
Acknowl edgements .
RgSUltS
o
o. o o..
17
o
Reliability and Representatj-veness of the Foregoing Results. .. oo oo oo ...26 o . .34 Dependence of BuIk Density on the Degree of Decompositioo. . o o o . o
Height GfOWth in 1981 .o....o..oooo.. IvIOSS Yield in 1980o o o r I o o.. o. . o.. o. DeCOmpOSitiOn in 1980-81 . . . . . . . o o . . . o' o
34
36
36
Summary and Conclusions .
39
References..
41
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Fi.gure
Figure
ten peatlands i{ap showing the locations in Maine of o the o o o o o o o o o. o o ' o o ' o f t ' ' ' inc luded in this StUdyo. Bog and Fen' Sherrnan 2. Map showing sample sites at Crystal """"3 County""""""""..' 15 minute quadrangle, Aroostook Caribou (Bangor-0rono) Bog' 3. Map showing sample sites at quad.rangtås, ienobscot County" " " " '4 Bangor and oronå i5 minute
1.
Figure
4.
Figure
5.
o
site-s 3l tl" Great Heath' Cherryfield " " " "5 15 minute quadrangle, Washington County" ' Acadia National Map showing sample sites at Big Heath' Hancock quadrangle' Park and Vicinity 15 x 22'5 minutert o o o o o t I o o o
Map showing sample
I o o o t ' . . o o o o o o o . . o . o o o ' ' o '
COUntY.
Figure
6.
Figure
7.
Map showing sample
sites at
Denbo
'
'
'
'
o
Heath' Tunk Lake
15
ninute quad'rangle, Hancock and Washington Counties""""o Sidney Bog' Augusta 15 Map showing sanple sites- at Great
"""7
o..... r....... "'8 minute q,raarangiå, Kennebec county.............. caffying Place cove Bog t Figure B. Map showing sample sites at washington countf ''' Lubec 7 .5 minute quad.rangle, Bog, Machias Bay 7'5 Figure 9. Ivlap showing sample site at Keith County" " ' o .." ' o .. " ' o " " " " " '10 minute quadrangle, Washington New England Peat fndustries Figure 1 0. Map showi-ng sample site at peatland, Jonesport 7'5 minute quadrangle' Washington 11 rrr-^}/
v'-v
'!
11
ooo
CountY..
"
"
o o o ' o o ' o ..
c ' o
^,
t -..{-rt
tr
at J onesPort lleath , J onesp ort Figure 11. Map showing sample site Washington CountY"'' o' 7 .5 minute quadrangle t -2 -1 aS'D"from ingrtti'Yr rates accumulatj'on Net 12. Peat Figure Bog replicate samples from the same humrnock at Caribou o
site
Average
B.P. to
Figure 1, .
22
CaZA'.
per hectare net peat accumulation rates in metric tons per year withoutashcorrectionrd'uringallorpartofthe Iast 30 years in some raised bogs in llaine. ' ' o o ' in netric tons per hectare Figure 14- Average net peat accumulation rates years per year wj.thout ash correction for the period from J0
Figure 13.
12
the
given
year
oooooooo
B.Pooo.ooooo.o.oooe
1 in eore m--V g in rates accumulation peat Net -yr!,ubeLLum Sphagnurn Cy2H0 from a hollow (RhUnehospo"a o o' o o o''
S: tenellun)
at Crystal Bog'''''
l-L
oo
o''
o
o'
o
24
24
25
Figure 16. Net peat accumulation rates in g *-? ,"-t in a cofe from a liehen-covered (Cladoni'a) depression at Great Heath
site GH1C....
"""26
Figure 17. The relationship between net peat accumulätion rate since 1952 and moss yield in 1980 at 18 sites along a 10 ra transect in'an area of Denbo Heath where peat mining ceased Figure 18. The relationship between energy content and percent water in long -core '1 åt Great Heath (Cameron & USGS site 10), withoui ash correction; all peat types ""' """''O Figure 19. For core 1 (Caneron & USGS site 10) from Great Heath: profiles of vertical accunulation rate (a), bulk density (D^), net peat accumulation rate-(A), ana energy ... o... .. o ...31 accunulatiSn rate..... r. ..... o.. ... .... ..... o.. Figure 20. The relationship between the vertical accumulation rate (a) and the von Post degree of humification (H) for long core pJ from Big Heath. ........ .. . .... .. .... ... ......
aaa
l- l-
l-
.......33
APPENDIXES
of some of the peatlands studied ..... sites sampled.
Appendix
I.
Photographs
Appendix
11.
Pollen diagrams for three long coresoo.o
Appendix
III.
Age-depth curves for Crystal Bog site CyB2' Crystal Fen site CyFl, Caribou Bog site Ca2, Great Heath ..... site GH'l , and Big Heath.site BHPj.
Appendix
IV.
PolLen diagrams
Appendix
V.
Moss increment
and
for eleven short cores
.......45 ......53 .......59 ........61
dates, vertical accumulation rates (a = nm y"-1), uutt densities (D"9ar = g . crol3), and net accumulation rates (A = g ' m-' yr-') in short CO]feS.. o.......
........
t................
......75
Appendix
VI.
and von Post degree of Bulk d.ensity (D* = g "rn-3) humification (H"= 1 - I 0) for six long cores........ o.. o.......89
Appendix
VII.
relationship between bulk density (DO = g '"nr-3) and percent water for seven long cores from five ............91 ..... peatlands.......... .....
Appendix
VIII.
Results of decomposition strip studies along five ..... ..... transects in four peatlands.....
The
....97
INTRODUCTION
Purpose
of
Study
The objective of this study was to determine the net rates of peat accumulation in selected peatlands in Maine. Accumulation rates nere deternined separately in long peat cores encompassing all or nost of the Holocene, and in short peat cores encompassing the past few centuries. Dating of the peat was carried out by carbon-14 analysis, pollen counts and correlations, and yearly moss increment counts. These results were supplemented by studies of moss height growth in 1981, and by-studies of peat decomposition in 1980 and 1981.
Location of StudY Sites Cores and. other observations came primarily from four unrnined and one mined peatland: (t ) C"y"tal Bog (Cyg) änd adjacent Crystal Fen (Cyf) in Aroostook County;'(e) Cåribou B-g (Ca) in Penobscot County; (r) Great Heath (ån) i." 11asrrineiån Cåunty; (+) eie.Heath (nu) in Hancock Countv; and (5) ni-ned portions of Denbo Heath (O) in Washington and Hancock Counties. In addition, nore linited j.nformation was obtained from some sites in the foltowing p"atrånJ-r (6) Great sid.ney Bog (sn) in Kennebec county;. (7) Carrying place Cove Bog (Cp) i" Washington County; (g) feith Boe (K) in Washington County; and two mined peatlands at Jonesport in Washington (g) or,"-io"r"rly mined. uy tlew England. Peat rndustries (up); and c;;;;t; (tO) ]onesport Heath (.ip), The loeations of these ten peatlands are shown in Figure 1, and the sampling sites on each peatland are shown in Figures 2 through 1 1 . Photographs of some of the deposits are included in Appendix
I.
Methodology
Peat Coring and Sectioning
At the Great Heath, the extensive results of Cameron (Davis and Anderson, 1980) were used for choosing representative cori.ng locations. During the 1981 field. season, numerous sites were cored along several transects in both the northern and southern parts of Caribou Bogr along three transects on Big Heath, and on Crysta1 Bog. For the cores at a1l
the
peatlands, including Denbo Heath, New England Peat Industries Heatht lonesport Heath, Carrying P1ace Cove Bog, and Great Sidney Bog' the peat strata were carefutly described. This information helped in selecting the core site from which the peat sanples were to be analyzedr and strengthened general conclusions regarding peat types, degree of decomposj.tion' frequency of peat fires, etc. At the other bogs and the fen' only three or four pretiminary borings were carried. out before selecting a representative sampling
site.
AROOSTOOK
z
rn
€ @
ft
z a c, e, qta
= 6
x
J
o
PISCATAOUIS
SOMERSET
PENOBSCOT
WASHINGTON
CarrYing Place Cove Bog
FRANKLIN
Denbo
r,tJ
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5
o:t^111 Heath
HANCOCK
6 O.
=
3
ul
KENNEBEC
OXFORD
WALDO
Jonesport Heath
O
z
eith Bog England äw Peat Industries $ Heath
Great Big Heath ,lruDROSCOGGIN
LINCOLN
CUMEERLAND SAGAOAHOC
Figure
1.
Map showing the locations
included in this study.
in Maine of the ten peatlands
H(PLANATION
N A I
r 1Mile
r
1 .- Long Core CyFl 2 '- Long Core CyB? Short Core CyZB Short Core CyC 3 -, Short Core CyFIH R1 ' Rz Short Core CyZHO Decomposition StriPs
4
#25-28,
31 , 32
-- Deconposition StriPs
#24,
30
,
53-40
5 - Deconposition StriPs #1
_15
6 -, Decornposi.tion Strips #16-24
Figure 2.
I{ap showing sarple sites at Crystal Bog and Fent Shernan 15 ninute quadranSle, Aroostook County'
EXPLANATION
N
1- Long Core Ca1 2- Long Core CaZ 5" Short Core Ca Oct. 17 A'B
A I
r 1Mile '
45-
Figure
3.
Map showing sanple
Bangor and Orono
15
Short Core CaIA-D/R Short Core CalB Short Core CaIR Short Core CaT(Zol) Short Core CaZA' Short Core CaZR
Growth Strips #Zl -56 Deeonposition Strips #ZZ-107
sites at Caribou (Bangor-Orono)
Bog,
minute quadrangles, Penobscot County. 4
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