How is a raised bog formed?

How is a raised bog formed?

Raised bogs have their origins in shallow glacial lakes and wet hollows. Over long time periods, each lake or hollow became filled with the un-decayed remains of marginal vegetation and silt, and peat began to form.

What does raised bog mean in geography?

Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs are very threatened by peat cutting and pollution by mineral salts from the surrounding land (due to agriculture and industry).

What is the difference between a raised bog and a blanket bog?

Raised bogs generally contain deeper peat deposits (typically between 4 and 8 metres) while blanket bogs are generally shallower with a peat depth of between 2 and 5 metres typical. Raised bogs also tend to contain a better-developed Sphagnum layer than blanket bogs.

What is raised peatland?

Raised bogs are discreet, raised, dome-shaped masses of peat occupying former lakes or shallow depressions in the landscape. They occur throughout the midlands of Ireland. Their principal supply of water and nutrients is from rainfall and the substrate is acid peat soil, which can be up to 12m deep.

What animals live in raised bogs?

Mammals like the snowshoe hare, moose, beaver, and muskrats are also found in and around bogs. And on a gruesome note: Preserved bodies are sometimes found in bogs! Because decomposition happens so slowly, anything that falls into a bog, including animals and people, can be preserved for long periods of time!

Can you still burn peat in Ireland?

Recently enacted European Union regulations, as well as Irish law, ban the collection of turf from 53 peat-bog conservation areas, despite the centuries-old tradition of burning peat as a heat source. Peat bogs are a type of wetland made up largely of dead and decaying vegetation.

What percent of Ireland is bog?

There are a number of scientific, economic, cultural and moral reasons for conserving blanket bogs. Only a small amount of blanket bog exists in the world. Ireland possesses 8% of the world’s blanket bog and is the most important country in Europe for this type of habitat.

Why are raised bogs of interest?

Like sponges, raised bogs soak up water in times of flooding and slowly release it during dry periods, thereby helping to regulate water systems. The habitat value of raised bogs arises from their rich diversity of flora such as bog-rosemary, cranberry, lichens and sundews, all of which thrive in the sphagnum mosses.

Do snakes live in bogs?

Specialized bugs and butterflies, as well as their caterpillars, and several spider species can be found on the bog vegetation. Unicellular animals live in bog water or within hyalocytes of peat moss. Amphibians, particularly the moor frog (Rana arvalis), live and/or spawn in bogs; snakes enter bogs to hunt them.

Why is Bord na Mona closing?

Bord na Móna has formally ended all peat harvesting on its lands following a landmark High Court judgment in 2019. The company suspended peat harvesting last year following the court’s ruling that all peat harvesting on bogs larger than 30 hectares required planning permission.

Why is the lowland raised bog so important?

Lowland raised bog is important in being the main type of bog in the agricultural lowlands of Britain, where it adds valuable ecological diversity to an otherwise very different and more intensively managed type of landscape. It commonly occurs in association with other semi-natural habitats such as fens and wet woodland.

Which is the least disturbed raised bog in Scotland?

The site is formed on a distinct slope and also has some characteristics of 7130 Blanket bogs. Blawhorn Moss is one of the larger, least-disturbed Active raised bogs in the central belt of Scotland.

What does it mean to have a raised bog?

Lowland raised bog represents a stage in the infilling of lowland ponds and lakes and other low-lying areas with impeded drainage. Colonising vegetation has formed increasingly thick mats where the upper surfaces have gradually risen so as to lose contact with the underlying mineral soils and groundwater.

How does a lowland wetland get its water?

Lowland wetlands receive water from either: the soil, rock and rainfall – i.e. fens, marshes and swamps Depending on the source and quantity of water involved, lowland wetlands vary hugely in their wildlife – from mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) to freshwater birds and otters.