This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Luoto, M. Articles by Seppälä, M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Summit peats (‘peat cakes’) on the fells of Finnish Lapland: continental fragments of blanket mires?

Finnish Environment Institute, GIS and Remote Sensing Unit, PO Box 140, Kesäkatu 6, FIN-00251 Helsinki, Finland

Matti Seppälä

Physical Geography Laboratory, PO Box 9, FIN-00014 Helsinki University, Finland

Peat deposits of area up to 50 m² and thickness of 10-50 cm on fell summits at 370-622 m a.s.1. in northern Finland have been mapped, analysed and dated. These summit 'peat cakes' are most frequent in northwestern Inari Lapland, in a relatively continental climate and close to the Arctic Ocean. It seems that the most important local factor for their development are irregularities in microtopography, which collect drift snow and shelter plants from destructive winds. Most sites are dominated by Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum.Accumulation of peat started after the Atlantic period c. 4000 ¹⁴C years BP, when the climate became morehumid. The mean annual growth of seven investigated deposits ranged from 0.1 1 to 0.44 mm yr-'. Plant macro remains at Kuovdaoaivi provide evidence of gradual vegetation development from an Empetrum-dominated community to a more diverse one: macro-remain concentration and the number of species rise gradually to the top of the deposit. At present, summit peats are being eroded by deflation, enhanced by needle ice and reindeer overgrazing. It seems that these peat deposits represent embryonic blanket mires at the continental limit of high-latitude blanket mire distribution.

Key Words: Summit peats • ‘peat cakes’ • blanket mire • fell • alpine vegetation • microtopography • plant macroremains • deflation • Holocene • Lapland • Finland

The Holocene, Vol. 10, No. 2, 229-241 (2000)
DOI: 10.1191/095968300670047420


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F.-K. Holtmeier and G. Broll Radiocarbon-dated peat and wood remains from the Finnish Subarctic: evidence of treeline and landscape history The Holocene, July 1, 2006; 16(5): 743 - 751. [Abstract] [PDF]