- 1Geography, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK (r.fewster@qub.ac.uk)
- 214Chrono Centre, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK
- 3Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre and Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- 4Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- 5Natural Resources Canada/Ressources naturelles Canada (NRCan/RNCan), Geological Survey of Canada/Commission géologique du Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- 6Geography Department, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
- 7Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, England, United Kingdom
- 8Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Geography, Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario, Canada
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
Peatlands have been widely recognised as important carbon stores, ecological habitats and natural hydrological buffers. However, comparatively less attention has been given to the role of peatlands as long-term stores of pollutants, particularly toxic metals and metalloids (TMMs). Furthermore, the potential for their release is poorly understood. An improved understanding of TMM distribution and release in peatlands is critical, because climate warming risks increasing their mobilisation, through enhanced decomposition and changes to hydrological processes, with potentially significant implications for natural ecosystems and human health. The PIPES project (Pollutants In Peatlands: from sink to Source) aims to identify global “hot spots” of peatland pollutants and establish likely release mechanisms of currently inert TMMs. We use a unique combination of observational and controlled-experimental approaches to address two research questions: (1) What is the content and distribution of pollutants in global peatlands? and (2) Under what conditions, and through which pathways, are these pollutants most likely to be released? In this presentation, we share early findings from both components of the PIPES project. Firstly, we present our ongoing analysis of the distribution of TMMs in global peatlands, with a primarily focus on spatial patterns identified across our comprehensive network of sites in the UK and Ireland. We quantify the total content of TMMs using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) in peat cores compiled by a network of > 90 international collaborators. Secondly, we present preliminary results from controlled environmental simulations of TMM release in peat monoliths from subarctic Sweden. We explore both pore-water and atmospheric release under scenarios of drought, climate warming and a shallow burn. Our findings provide crucial new insights into the potential fate of pollutants in global peatlands and their implications for human health and natural ecosystems.
Richard Fewster; Graeme Swindles; Gareth Clay; Emma Shuttleworth; Jennifer Galloway; Angela Gallego-Sala; Thomas Kelly; Colin McCarter; Ellie Purdy; Jim Sloan; Julien Arsenault; Ant Blundell; Robert Booth; Joanie Boulard; Casey Bryce; Lucy Cardy; Alison Cassidy; Daniel Colson; Michelle Curran; Davog Devenney; Simon Drollinger; Andrew Dugmore; Anne Erbele; Helen Essell; Sarah Ferrandin; Marvin Gabriel; Mariusz Gałka; Michelle Garneau; Chloé Giraud; Stefan Glatzel; Robin Gledhill; Conor Graham; Sophie Green; Niamh Gurrin; Thomas Hadlari; Agnieszka Halaś; K. Anggi Hapsari; Duncan Harvey; Manon Heßing; Dom Hinchley; Joseph Holden; Vincent Jassey; Matthew Jones; Samantha Jones; Edgar Karofeld; Andreas Kaufmann; Marko Kohv; Tiina Kolari; Mariusz Lamentowicz; Dominika Łuców; Gabriel Magnan; Andreas Maier; Claudia Mansilla; Paul Matras; Dmitri Mauquoy; Natalia Mazei; Yuri Mazei; Timothy Mighall; Alice Milner; Kimberly Montgomery; Paul Morris; Patrick Moss; Agnieszka Mroczkowska; Michael Muir; Andrew Newton; Anthony Newton; Cornelius Oertel; Lisa Orme; Raul Paat; Sue Page; Margarida Pedro Victor; Nora Pfaffner; Sanna Piilo; Tomasz Polkowski; Thomas Prentice; Sean Pyne-O'Donnel; Fin Ring-Hrubesh; Jonny Ritson; Kenny Roberts; Harry Roberts; Thomas Roland; Katy Ross; Nicole Sanderson; Karsten Schittek; Ed Schofield; Michał Słowiński; Chris Spence; Julie Talbot; Tim Thom; Claire Treat; Andrey Tsyganov; Minna Väliranta; Thirsa van der Veen; Clemens von Scheffer; Julia Webb; Jiren Xu; Zicheng Yu; Claudio Zaccone.
How to cite: Fewster, R., Swindles, G., Clay, G., Shuttleworth, E., Galloway, J., Gallego-Sala, A., Kelly, T., McCarter, C., Purdy, E., and Sloan, J. and the PIPES research group: Global stocks and release pathways of pollutants in peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-296, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-296, 2025.
