Centennial-Scale Shifts in Hydrophysical Properties of Peat Induced by Drainage

Hydrophysical properties of peat influence the partitioning of rainfall into infiltration versus runoff, determine water flow and solute transport patterns, and regulate the carbon and nitrogen cycles in peatlands. Compared with mineral soils, our understanding of hydraulic properties of peat soils is limited, especially of the temporal dynamics of peat properties. A data set of peat subsidence as well as the bulk density (BD) change rate following artificial drainage was assembled from the literature. The collected data cover a time period of up to 272 years of land drainage for forestry and agriculture in boreal and temperate climate zones. The results show that the subsidence rate and BD change rate, and hydrophysical properties of peat can be estimated based on land drainage duration and land use. The most severe shift in pore structure of peat occurs within the first 20 years of land drainage. Peatland drainage reduces macroporosity with pore diameter greater than 50 mu m, but increases the volume of pores <5 mu m. In the long term, peat thickness loss is responsible for more than 80% of water storage loss. In conclusion, the derived functions between subsidence rate, BD change rate, and drainage duration provide a new approach to estimate the hydrophysical properties of peat (pore structure, saturated hydraulic conductivity, specific yield, and soil water storage) on a centennial scale. The derived hydrophysical parameter values can be used for long-term hydrological modeling, especially if measured hydraulic parameters of peat are not available.