Peat and organic soils commonly occur as extremely soft, unconsolidated surficial deposits that are an integral part of the wetland systems. They may also occur as strata beneath other surficial deposits. These soils are problematic as they are very highly compressible and are of very low shear strength. In countries like Malaysia, peat and organic soils are found in abundance. Utilization of t...

This paper presents the stabilization potential of Class F pond ash (PA) from a coal fired thermal power station on tropical peat soil. Peat or highly organic soils are well known for their high compressibility, natural moisture content, low shear strength and long-term settlement. This study investigates the effect of different amount (i.e., 5, 10, 15 and 20%) of PA on peat soil, collected fro...

There is a limited understanding of solute transport properties of degraded peat soils as compared to mineral substrates. A lower organic matter (OM) content is often the result of peat degradation and mineralization following artificial drainage. In this study, we aimed at deducing changes in solute transport properties of peat soils differing in OM content. Miscible displacement experiments w...

Due to geochemical processes, peat soils often have elevated concentrations of trace elements, which are gradually released following drainage for agriculture. Our objectives were to use incubation temperatures to vary microbial activity in two metalliferous peats (M7 acidic peat and M3 neutral peat) from the Elba, New York region, and to use periodic leaching to assess the extent of trace elem...

Peat and muck soils have unique biological, physical, and chemical properties, and on them the common drainage and management practices that are used on mineral soils are not suitable. Biologically the organic soils support hosts of micro-organisms, mostly bacteria, which are largely responsible for the formation and alteration of the peat. The action of the anaerobic micro-organisms builds up ...

The influence of pH on the sorption of pentachlorophenol (PCP) onto three organic amendments, char, humic acid (HA) and peat, and the effect of organic amendments on PCP sorption to three kinds of soils were evaluated. The sorption of PCP on these sorbents fitted the Freundlich model well, suggesting that PCP sorption isotherms were nonlinear with exponential coefficient (N) value lower than 1....

BACKGROUND CO(2) emissions from cleared mangrove areas may be substantial, increasing the costs of continued losses of these ecosystems, particularly in mangroves that have highly organic soils. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We measured CO(2) efflux from mangrove soils that had been cleared for up to 20 years on the islands of Twin Cays, Belize. We also disturbed these cleared peat soils to ...

Grasslands established on drained peat soils are regarded as negligible methane (CH4 ) sources; however, they can still exhibit considerable soil CH4 dynamics. We investigated archaeal community composition in two different fen peat soils and one bog peat soil under permanent grassland in Denmark. We used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting and clone librar...

Most of the Tylenchulus semipenetrans larvae applied on the surface of four soils in pots 14.5-cm deep moved no further downward than 6.5 crn, and remained in the upper half of the pot. The percentage of second-stage larvae that developed into adult females on 'Homosassa' sweet orange in the soils were: sandy loam, 6.8% in the same soil with inoculation holes, 8.6%; loamy sand, 5.4%; coarse san...

Executive Summary Biochar is an increasingly popular topic in environmental management due to its potential effects on several ecosystem functions. Specifically, biochar has been linked to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane when used as a soil amendment. It has also been suggested as a long term mechanism to sequester carbon i...