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The stratigraphy and development of a floating peatland, Pinhook Bog, Indiana

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Abstract

Pinhook Bog is an acidic, weakly-minerotrophic peatland that occupies an iceblock depression in the Valparaiso Moraine in northwest Indiana. It has a floating mat approximately 22 ha in area but no central pond. Detailed stratigraphic descriptions of the peatland were made to analyze its developmental history and determine what factors may be responsible for mat formation. Stratigraphic data along four transects identified a clay-lined basin with three major sub-basins 18, 14, and 14 m deep. The deeper parts of the sub-basins contain fibrous limnic peats with some intermixed lacustrine sediments deposited between 12000 and 4200 years ago. The younger, upper peat layers are composed primarily ofSphagnum and consist of the fibrous surface peat and two underlying layers of fluid, fibrous peat separated by a water layer about one meter thick. Peat materials from above the water layer have fallen through the water to form the lower layer of detritus peat.

In addition to the obvious factors of climate and presence of mat-forming species, the development of extensive floating peatland mats is considered to be largely a function of deep, steep-sided basins that allow horizontal mat growth to exceed vertical peat accumulation. Other important contributing factors are clay-lined basins and the lack of inlets or outlets. These factors may result in water-level changes in the basin and weakly-minerotrophic waters conducive toSphagnum growth.

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Author notes

  1. Douglas A. Wilcox

    Present address: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fisheries Research Center-Great Lakes, 1451 Green Rd., 48105, Ann Arbor, Michigan

  2. Howard A. Simonin

    Present address: NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 13440, Rome, NY

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Park Service, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 1100 N. Mineral Springs Rd., 46304, Porter, Indiana

    Douglas A. Wilcox & Howard A. Simonin

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  1. Douglas A. Wilcox
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Wilcox, D.A., Simonin, H.A. The stratigraphy and development of a floating peatland, Pinhook Bog, Indiana. Wetlands 8, 75–91 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160810

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