Editing Peat (section)

==General uses==

=== Fuel ===
[[File:Feu de tourbe.JPG|thumb|Peat fire]]Peat can be used as fuel once dried. Traditionally, peat is cut by hand and left to dry in the sun. In many countries, including [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]], peat was traditionally stacked to dry in rural areas and used for cooking and domestic heating. This tradition can be traced back to the Roman period.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Culture & history {{!}} IUCN UK Peatland Programme |url=https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-benefits/culture-history |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=IUCN Peatland Programme |language=en}}</ref> For industrial uses,{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} companies may use pressure to extract water from the peat, which is soft and easily compressed.

===Agriculture===
{{See also|Potting soil#Peat}}
[[File:Peatcuttingulsta.jpg|thumb|Worked bank in [[blanket bog]], near [[Ulsta]], [[Yell, Shetland|Yell]], [[Shetland Islands]]]]
In Sweden, farmers use dried peat to absorb excrement from cattle that are wintered indoors.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The most essential property of peat is retaining moisture in container soil when it is dry while preventing the excess water from killing roots when it is wet. Peat can store [[nutrient]]s although it is not fertile itself—it is [[Polyelectrolyte|polyelectrolytic]] with a high ion-exchange capacity due to its oxidized lignin.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Peat is discouraged as a soil amendment by the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]], England, since 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peat-free compost at Kew| publisher = RBG Kew| year = 2011 | url = http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/garden-attractions-A-Z/kids-attractions/compost-heap.htm| access-date = 2011-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916065726/http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/garden-attractions-A-Z/kids-attractions/compost-heap.htm|archive-date=2011-09-16|url-status=dead}}</ref> While bark or [[coir]]-based peat-free potting soil mixes are on the rise, particularly in the UK, peat is still used as raw material for [[horticulture]] in some other European countries, Canada, as well as parts of the United States.

=== Drinking water ===
Peatland can also be an essential source of [[drinking water]], providing nearly 4% of all potable water stored in [[reservoir]]s. In the UK, 43% of the population receives drinking water sourced from peatlands, with the number climbing to 68% in Ireland. Catchments containing peatlands are the main source of water for large cities, including Dublin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Jiren |last2=Morris |first2=Paul J. |last3=Liu |first3=Junguo |last4=Holden |first4=Joseph |date=2018 |title=Hotspots of peatland-derived potable water use identified by global analysis |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/129766/12/Hotspots%20of%20peatland-derived%20potable%20water%20-%20Figures%20and%20tables.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427175642/http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/129766/12/Hotspots%20of%20peatland-derived%20potable%20water%20-%20Figures%20and%20tables.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-27 |url-status=live |journal=Nature Sustainability |language=en |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=246–253 |doi=10.1038/s41893-018-0064-6 |bibcode=2018NatSu...1..246X |issn=2398-9629 |s2cid=134230602}}</ref>[[File:Shovel-Falklands.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Falkland Islanders]] shovelling peat in the 1950s]]

=== Metallurgy ===
Peat wetlands also used to have a degree of [[Metallurgy|metallurgical]] importance in the [[Early Middle Ages]], being the primary source of [[bog iron]] used to create swords and armour.

=== Flood mitigation ===
Many peat swamps along the coast of [[Malaysia]] serve as a natural means of flood mitigation, with any overflow being absorbed by the peat, provided forests are still present to prevent peat fires.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Assessment on peatlands, biodiversity and climate change: main report |date=2008 |publisher=Global Environment Centre |isbn=978-983-43751-0-2 |editor-last=UNEP |editor-link=United Nations Environment Programme |location=Kuala Lumpur}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Article 4: Ecosystem Biodiversity In Malaysia |url=https://globinmed.com/conservation/article-4-ecosystem-biodiversity-in-malaysia/ |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=GlobinMed |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Freshwater aquaria===
Peat is sometimes used in freshwater [[aquarium|aquaria]]. It is seen most commonly in soft water or [[blackwater river]] systems such as those mimicking the [[Amazon River]] basin. In addition to being soft and therefore suitable for demersal (bottom-dwelling) species such as ''[[Corydoras]]'' catfish, peat is reported to have many other beneficial functions in freshwater aquaria. It softens water by acting as an [[ion exchange]]r; it also contains substances that are beneficial for plants and fishes' reproductive health. Peat can prevent algae growth and kill microorganisms. Peat often stains the water yellow or brown due to the leaching of [[tannin]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last=Scheurmann | first=Ines | others=(trans. for Barron's Educational Series, Hauppauge, New York: 2000) | title=Natural Aquarium Handbook, The | year=1985 | publisher=Gräfe & Unzer GmbH | location=Munich, Germany }}</ref>

===Balneotherapy===
Peat is widely used in [[balneotherapy]] (the use of bathing to treat disease).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Myeongkyu |last2=Lee |first2=Kyu Hoon |last3=Han |first3=Seung Hoon |last4=Lee |first4=Sung Jae |last5=Kim |first5=Choong-Gon |last6=Choi |first6=Jae Ho |last7=Hwang |first7=Sun Hee |last8=Park |first8=Si-Bog |date=2020-01-20 |title=Effect of Peat Intervention on Pain and Gait in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Prospective, Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Study |journal=Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine |language=en |volume=2020 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1155/2020/8093526 |doi-access=free |issn=1741-427X |pmc=7201632 |pmid=32419828}}</ref> Many traditional spa treatments include peat as part of [[peloid]]s. Such health treatments have an enduring tradition in European countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. Some of these old spas date back to the 18th century and are still active today. The most common types of peat application in balneotherapy are peat [[mud bath|muds]], [[poultice]]s and [[suspension bath]]s.<ref>[http://www.peatsociety.org/about-us/commissions-and-working-groups/c6-balneology?id=90 International Peatland Society]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Peat Balneology, Medicine and Therapeutics</ref>

=== Peat archives ===
Authors Rydin and Jeglum in ''Biology of Habitats'' described the concept of peat archives, a phrase coined by influential peatland scientist [[Harry Godwin]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite book |last=Godwin |first=Harry Sir |author-link=Harry Godwin |title=The archives of the peat bogs |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1981 |location=Cambridge}}</ref><ref name="Rydin_2013">{{cite book |first1=Håkan |last1=Rydin |first2=John K. |last2=Jeglum |date=18 July 2013 |pages=400 |title=The Biology of Peatlands |edition=2 |series=Biology of Habitats |orig-year=8 Jun 2006 |publisher=University of Oxford Press |isbn=978-0198528722 |ref={{SfnRef|Rydin|Jeglum|2014}}}}</ref><ref name="Keddy_2010">{{citation |last=Keddy |first=P.A. |year=2010 |title=Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation |edition=2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK. |pages=323–325}}</ref>

{{blockquote|sign=|source=Rydin, 2013|In a peat profile there is a fossilized record of changes over time in the vegetation, pollen, spores, animals (from microscopic to the giant elk), and archaeological remains that have been deposited in place, as well as pollen, spores and particles brought in by wind and weather. These remains are collectively termed the peat archives.}}

In ''Quaternary Palaeoecology'', first published in 1980, Birks and Birks described how [[Paleoecology|paleoecological]] studies "of peat can be used to reveal what plant communities were present (locally and regionally), what period each community occupied, how environmental conditions changed, and how the environment affected the ecosystem in that time and place."<ref name="Rydin_2013"/><ref name="Birks_1980">{{cite book |title=Quaternary Palaeoecology |first1= Harry John Betteley |last1=Birks |first2=Hilary H. |last2=Birks |publisher=Blackburn Press |orig-year=1980 |year=2004 |pages=289 pages}}</ref>

Scientists continue to compare modern [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] (Hg) accumulation rates in bogs with historical natural archives records in peat bogs and lake sediments to estimate the potential human impacts on the [[biogeochemical]] cycle of mercury, for example.<ref name="Biester_Bindler_2009">{{citation |url=http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2009/mwp128-13.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916091927/http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2009/mwp128-13.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-16 |url-status=live |series=Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute |number=128|title=Modelling Past Mercury Deposition from Peat Bogs – The Influence of Peat Structure and 210Pb Mobility |first1=Harald |last1=Biester |first2=Richard |last2=Bindler |access-date=21 October 2014 |year=2009}}</ref> Over the years, different dating models and technologies for measuring date sediments and peat profiles accumulated over the last 100–150 years, have been used, including the widely used vertical distribution of 210Pb, the [[inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry]] (ICP-SMS),<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.elmvale.org/elmvalefoundation/publications/A64.pdf |url-status=live|journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta|volume=74|year=2010|pages=1963–1981|title=The isotopic evolution of atmospheric Pb in central Ontario since AD 1800, and its impacts on the soils, waters, and sediments of a forested watershed, Kawagama Lake|first1=W.|last1=Shotyk|first2=M.|last2=Krachler|issue=7 |doi=10.1016/j.gca.2010.01.009 |bibcode=2010GeCoA..74.1963S |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206132705/http://www.elmvale.org/elmvalefoundation/publications/A64.pdf|archive-date=2023-02-06}}</ref> and more recently the initial penetration (IP).<ref>{{cite conference| title=Modeling the downward transport of 210Pb in mires and repercussions on the deriv| conference=EGU General Assembly |bibcode=2013EGUGA..1511054O}}</ref>

==== Bog bodies ====
{{See also|Bog body}}
Naturally mummified human bodies, often called "[[bog bodies]]" have been found in various places in Scotland, England, Ireland, and especially northern Germany and Denmark. They are almost perfectly preserved by the [[Tanning (leather)|tanning]] properties of the acidic water, as well as by the antibiotic properties of the organic component sphagnan.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Painter |first=Terence J. |title=Lindow man, tollund man and other peat-bog bodies: The preservative and antimicrobial action of Sphagnan, a reactive glycuronoglycan with tanning and sequestering properties |journal=Carbohydrate Polymers |date=1 January 1991 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=123–142 |doi=10.1016/0144-8617(91)90028-B |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0144-8617%2891%2990028-B |access-date=29 October 2023 |issn=0144-8617}}</ref> A famous example is the [[Tollund Man]] in Denmark. Having been discovered in 1950 after being mistaken for a recent murder victim, he was exhumed for scientific purposes and dated to have lived during the 4th century BC. Before that, another bog body, the [[Elling Woman]], had been discovered in 1938 in the same bog about {{Convert|60|m}} from the Tollund Man. She is believed to have lived during the late 3rd century BC and was a ritual sacrifice. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, people used peat bogs for rituals to nature gods and spirits.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NOVA &#124; The Perfect Corpse &#124; PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bog/ |website=pbs.org}}</ref>