Reconstruction of a Raised Bog Development: Which Geochemical Parameters of Peat are the Most Convenient for Preliminary Analyses?

Thanks to their unique physical, chemical, and biological properties, raised bogs are considered archives of past hydrological and vegetation changes, which in the case of ombrotrophic bogs may reflect alterations of paleoclimate. Detailed studies on the past transformations of bogs provide researchers with necessary knowledge to anticipate future changes of these ecosystems. The aim of this research was to find a good and easily obtainable paleoenvironmental proxy that can be used in preliminary studies with no need for advanced equipment and extra costs. For our studies three raised bogs were chosen, whose genesis and history have been comprehensively described by other authors according to micro- and macrofossil data. We performed chemical analyses on the samples from the cores taken from the described bogs. Obtained results were compared with accessible data on the bogs' development and underwent statistical analysis. In general, geochemical features of peat presented in this article corresponded well with the accessible micro- and marcofossil data, and content of non-hydrolysable lipids in peat turned out to be the best indicator of water level on the studied bogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]