CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Davis, A.M.
Date : 1993
Title : The initiation and development of boreal peatlands in Atlantic Canada and their response to global warming.
Publication : Atlantic Geology
Issue : 29(2):
Page(s) : 161-162
Abstract
Peatlands cover about 120 x 10 super(6) ha, or about 12% of Canada. Most, about 75%, are classified as boreal. Peat accumulates via terrestrialization, the infilling of topographic lows, and by paludification, often defined as the swamping of forests, a process largely independent of topography. The latter dominates in the eastern part of the boreal zone where it produces physiognomically and behaviourally distinctive mire forms. This paper focusses on paludification; the processes that initiate and sustain it, and on the potential responses of ombrotrophic mires to global warming. Paludification is not exclusive to the boreal zone, but is clearly a dominant process there. The general distribution of its products suggests climatic forcing working directly through energy availability and water balance, and indirectly through climatically-mitigated disturbance, particularly fire. The well-defined regional geography of mire forms implies that even small differences in the climatic template induce distinctive responses. Stratigraphic data attest to the sensitivity of mire systems to climatic shifts. However, behaviour and hence, development, are determined ultimately by the ecologies of the various peat formers which may induce quasi-cyclic responses largely independent of macroclimate. The responses of these systems to global warming at least in Atlantic Canada are likely to be slow and muted with none of the large-scale 'depaludification' predicted by Russian researchers.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology