The timing of peatland initiation in east-central British Columbia: a first look

"A pilot study at the Aleza Lake Research Forest (ALRF) in east-central interior British Columbia (BC) examined the timing of peatland initiation using accelerator radiocarbon dating of peat deposits. At the ALRF, Sphagnum bogs occupy numerous closed depressions in an undulating plain underlain by impervious, fine-textured glacial lake sediments. Four adjacent Sphagnum bogs differed greatly in depth, with maximum peat thicknesses ranging from 70 to >550 cm. The oldest peat (9,177 ± 55 ¹⁴C yr BP) occurred in a deposit less than 2 m thick, while a basal peat sample could not be obtained from the deepest basin examined. Two bogs with thinner deposits yielded younger basal peat ages (<4000 ¹⁴C yr BP). More recent peatland initiation in shallower depressions may have been triggered by moister regional climates after the mid-Holocene. Future studies of peatland carbon stocks and peatland history in central BC will need to consider this potential climate sensitivity and the spatial variability in peat thickness. Plant macrofossils and charcoal preserved in peat deposits could provide additional evidence for Holocene paleoenvironments in this region."