Peat
Topic: Geomorphic Processes: Weathering, Mass Movement, Erosion and Soil Formation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Geomorphic Processes"
Meaning
Peat is a layer of half-rotted plant matter. It builds up in sub-arctic and tundra areas, where the cold, wet ground slows the bacteria that break down dead plants. So plant remains pile up faster than they rot. Peat stores a lot of carbon. Over a very long time, buried and pressed down, it can turn into coal. That is why it is called the first stage of coal formation.
Example
The Hudson Bay Lowlands in northern Canada are covered by wide peatlands. They formed in a cold, waterlogged, low-lying region.
Don't confuse with
- Humus: humus is fine, well-rotted organic matter mixed into the soil. Peat is only partly rotted and forms thick layers of its own.
- Coal: peat is the soft, early stage. Coal forms only after long burial, heat and pressure.
Related concepts
- Soil-forming factors
- Parent material
- Residual and transported soils
- Climate as a soil-forming factor
- Eluviation
- Illuviation
- Desilication
- Humus