Foreword

This book, Groundwater in Peat and Peatlands, is unique within the peat literature in that it describes peatlands specifically within the hydrogeologic context according to their characteristics and properties, indicates how this knowledge is acquired and explains the role of peatlands in the context of climate change. Peat is partially decomposed organic matter that accumulated under conditions of water logging and oxygen deficiency. Peat is permeable and is a form of an unconfined aquifer with water at or near the surface in areas of slow groundwater flow.

Peatlands occur predominantly in the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, mostly in Canada, Fennoscandia, and Russia. These northern peatlands are either seasonally frozen or contain permafrost. There is also tropical peat, occurring mostly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazil.

Although peatlands occupy only 3% of the Earth’s land area and few people live on or near peatlands, the state of peatlands is important to the well-being of the planet. Peat stores 30% of the earth’s soil carbon. Sustaining this carbon storage requires a shallow water table. If the water table declines then oxygen will enter and oxidize the peat, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is part of a greenhouse gas feedback loop when a warmer climate dries out peat releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus contributing to atmospheric warming. When the water table declines in peat, the degree of fire hazard rises markedly. Land use changes in Indonesia and Malaysia are severely impairing peatland function to support the production of palm oil, paper pulp, lumber, and agriculture. Burning peat can result in wildfires with global scale smoke plumes. Hence, keeping peatlands saturated is essential to the well-being of humans and the planet.

The authors have published extensively over decades with coverage of most aspects of peat related to groundwater and much more. Dr. Jonathan Price is an emeritus professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Canada; Dr. William Quinton is a professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies; Wilfred Laurier University, Canada; and Dr. Colin McCarter is a Canada Research Chair in Climate and Environmental Change and an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and the Department of Biology and Chemistry, Nipissing University, Canada.

John Cherry, The Groundwater Project Leader

Guelph, Ontario, Canada, January 2023