Canada
Dating Peat: What Lies Beneath and When It Got There
Dr. Nicole Sanderson, Assistant Professor, Geography, Université du Québec à Montréal
Radiochronology Laboratory, Geotop Research Centre
Recent and rapid changes in climate and permafrost thaw are impacting ecohydrology and carbon dynamics in high-latitude peatlands. Given that peatland and wetland conservation is a crucial nature-based climate solution, there is increasing demand for information on carbon stocks across different ecosystems (“How much carbon is in my peatland?”) as well as on accumulation rates (“Since when has carbon been accumulating? Has the rate changed over time?”). However, understanding these rapid changes on decadal to centennial scales remains challenging, partly due to historically poor dating resolution in surface peat, leading to poor predictions of future C sink potential. Our projects, focusing particularly on the last ~100-200 years, aim to improve our understanding of how carbon storage evolves with environmental shifts. By combining various radiometric dating techniques, such as radiocarbon and lead-210, we seek to better grasp the timing and magnitude of these changes. User decisions—from the choice of dating methods to data modeling—can significantly impact the interpretation of timing and scale for policy and planning purposes. Upcoming projects will also focus on wider spatial applications for radiometric data, in addition to chronologies, for peatland management, such as rapid monitoring or tracking C loss post-disturbance or post-restoration.
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