Inorganic and organic sulfur profiles in nine Sphagnum peat bogs in the United States and Czechoslovakia

Abstract

Depth profiles of total S, organic S, soluble SO ²⁻₄ -S, FeS, and FeS₂ were characterized for Sphagnum-derived peat cores collected from 9 sites. Marcell S-2 Bog (MN), Tamarack Swamp (PA), Cranesville Swamp (MD/WV), and Big Run Bog (WV) receive water from precipitation and upland runoff; atmospheric S deposition is 13, 47, 54, and 114 mmol m⁻², yr⁻¹, respectively. McDonald's Branch Swamp (NJ) is predominantly groundwater fed. Tub Run Bog (WV) and Allegheny Mining Bog (MD) receive augmented SO ²⁻₄ inputs through acid coal mine drainage. Jezerní slat' and BoŽí Dar Bog in Czechoslovakia receive atmospheric S inputs of 33 and 243 mmol m⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively. In the peat from all sites except Allegheny Mining Bog, where the substantially augmented SO ²⁻₄ input was reflected in an unusually high dissolved SO ²⁻₄ pool in the surface peat, organic S (probably mostly carbon bonded S) was the dominant S fraction; FeS₂ was generally the dominant inorganic S fraction. Subsurface peaks in total S, organic S and FeS₂-S in peat from the runoff water fed sites were interpreted as indicative of depth-dependent patterns in S reduction/oxidation and in S immobilization/mineralization. Unless SO ²⁻₄ inputs to a site are tremendously augmented (e.g., Allegheny Mining Bog), the rapid turnover of the dissolved SO ²⁻₄ pool combined with the relative stability of the other inorganic and organic S pools, apparently functions as an effective buffer against site differences in S inputs, leading to a general similarity in vertical S profiles in the peat deposits.