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Exploring the potential of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to measure the extent of chronic disturbance in peatlands: examples from acid mine drainage and peat fire
Citation:
Terry, N., R. Runkel, Dale Werkema, E. Rutila, X. Comas, M. Warren, A. Kristiyono, AND D. Murdiyarso. Exploring the potential of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to measure the extent of chronic disturbance in peatlands: examples from acid mine drainage and peat fire. International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Golden, CO, June 14 - 19, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1190/gpr2020-015.1
Impact/Purpose:
This work presents field research results using non-invasive geophysical techniques for the characterization of acid mine drainage impact on peatlands and to understand the subsurface impacts of peatland fires. The results demonstrate that ground penetrating radar and frequency domain electromagnetic induction reveal subsurface alterations due to these events. The geochemical, geologic, and hydrologic data correlate with these geophysical data and demonstrate the utility of non-invasive geophysical methods to characterize peatland stressors. Results from this research will be presented at the 2020 Ground Penetrating Radar Conference in Golden, Colorado, June 14-19, 2020.
Description:
Peatlands are accumulations of partially decayed organic soil that cover approximately 3% the earth’s surface and have been shown to serve essential environmental and ecological functions such as sequestering carbon, purifying water, and providing habitat for organisms. However, peatlands are threatened by pressures from agriculture, urban development, mining, and climate change. Geophysical methods have been used in peatlands to determine peat volume and carbon stocks (e.g., Comas et al., 2017), observe differences in humification and water content (e.g., Ulriksen, 1982), guide engineering projects (e.g., Jol and Smith, 1995), learn about subsurface greenhouse gas dynamics (Wright and Comas, 2016), observe seasonal variations in pore water salinity (Walter et al., 2018), and assess hydrological processes (Hare et al., 2017). Among various geophysical methods, ground penetrating radar (GPR) is arguably the most popular for studying peat properties given the method’s sensitivity to variations in water content and ability to resolve major structural properties within the peat at high spatial resolution. Though less widely applied, frequency-domain analysis of GPR may also yield useful information.
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DOI: Exploring the potential of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to measure the extent of chronic disturbance in peatlands: examples from acid mine drainage and peat fire