Peatlands cover ~3% of land yet hold about one-third of the world’s soil carbon
Waterlogged bogs, fens, and peat swamps occupy only a few percent of Earth’s land, but their sodden, oxygen-poor soils lock away a huge share of global soil carbon — often estimated near one-third.
Dead plants sink into wet peat faster than microbes can fully decompose them, so carbon stacks for millennia as dark organic layers meters thick.
Drain a peatland and that archive can burn or oxidize into CO₂. Tiny map footprints punch far above their weight in the climate system.
Comments
0 comments