What is a peat bog fire?
Bogs are home to peat, a collection of decayed organic matter and vegetation. When peat burns, it can burn deep underground for metres, even in damp conditions, until its fuel is exhausted. These fires are known to smoulder underground, even riding out the winter months.Click to see full answer. Simply so, what is a peat…
Bogs are home to peat, a collection of decayed organic matter and vegetation. When peat burns, it can burn deep underground for metres, even in damp conditions, until its fuel is exhausted. These fires are known to smoulder underground, even riding out the winter months.Click to see full answer. Simply so, what is a peat fire? ABOUT PEAT FIRES Peat fires are a glowing global threat with serious economic and ecological impacts. Peat fires usually burn a smaller area than fast-moving forest fires, but they can burn up to 10 times more fuel mass per acre, producing far more smoke.Secondly, why should peat not be burned? Peat has a high carbon content and can burn under low moisture conditions. Despite the damage that the burning of raw peat can cause, bogs are naturally subject to wildfires and depend on the wildfires to keep woody competition from lowering the water table and shading out many bog plants. Similarly, you may ask, what happens when peat is burned? Because peat takes such a long time to form, it is a non-renewable energy resource like fossil fuels. Peat bogs are a very important store of carbon. If all the peat was removed and burned this would quickly release a huge volume of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect .How long can peat fires burn?Dry peat ignites very easily and can burn for days or weeks, even smouldering underground and re-emerging away from the initial source (Fig. 1 & 2). This makes these fires incredibly difficult to extinguish, and highly unpredictable and uncontrollable.
