Transformation of peat deposits and carbon accumulation in post-pyrogenic raised bogs within the taiga zone of West Siberia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess of the transformation of the hydrologic and physical properties of peat deposits and peat accumulation rates in the post-pyrogenic sites of drained fens in the taiga zone of West Siberia.

Location and time of the study. Field studies were conducted in 2022 on the Bakchar fen (drained for forestry, seven plots) and Ust-Bakchar fen (drained for peat extraction, three plots) located in the Tomsk region.

Methods. Peat sampling was carried out from two boreholes at each plot in the hollow and the hummock. The sampling increment was 5 cm; the total depth was 45–90 cm. Peat samples were taken at nine subsites by the envelope method on each plot in 0–30 cm layer by 10 cm increment for water content determination in laboratory. Laboratory study of peat characteristics was carried out using the following methods: water and ash content measurements (GOST 11306-2013, GOST 11306-2013), estimation of peat decomposition and humification degree, botanical composition (GOST 28245-89), as well as measuring peat bulk density. Carbon stocks in the upper layer of peat deposits was estimated using the values of peat ash content and density.

Results. The peat deposit of the upper layers was formed mainly by sphagnum peat with Sphagnum fuscum plant residues predominating. The differences between hollows and hummocks in their peat properties were manifested to a depth of 5–15 cm from the surface of depressions. The burnout of the hollows led to the changes of all peat properties to a depth of 10–15 cm:  the changes were more pronounced in ash content, which was 1.5–9 times higher in the 0–5 cm layer as compared with the unburned site. The changes in peat properties on positive relief forms, i.e. moss hummocks, was less evident in the upper 0–5 cm layer, but reached a greater depth of 30 cm. The change was revealed mainly as an increase in peat ash content due to the migration of ash elements from the surface of burnt hollows and as an increase in bulk density due to subsidence of moss hummocks with the died-off sphagnum moss. Although the average water content in postpyrogenic and unburned sites was the same, amounting to 90–91% in the 0–30 cm layer, some difference was observed between the microrelief forms. The post-pyrogenic site in the Bakchar fen was characterized by water content decrease in hollows and hummocks, the maximum values being observed at an altitude near the average surface. In the Ust-Bakchar fen, water content was found to decrease from hollows to hummocks. In the Bakchar fen, 30 years after the fire peat accumulation occurred only on positive microrelief forms, where the 35 cm thick layer formed after the fire. Taking into account the microrelief heterogeneity, carbon accumulation over the post-fire period was estimated as 1.9 kg C/m² or 60 g C/m² per year. Peat accumulation seemed much slower in the Ust-Bakchar fen and was apparently absent on most of the surface. The average rate was estimated as 7 g C/m² per year.

Conclusions. The study found fen hollows to be most prone to burnout. The consequences of the fire manifest themselves in the drying of the upper layer of the peat deposit, thus preventing intensive overgrowth by sphagnum mosses 6–8 years after the fire. At the drained for forestry site in the Bakchar fen, 30 years after the fire the peat accumulation rate on moss hummocks was comparable to the rate in the unburned areas.