Study on the vertical distribution of carbon and ash content and its relationship with ombrogenous peat depth

¹ Department Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia
² Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia
³ Research Center for Horticulture, Research Organization for Agriculture and Food, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: besrinasrul@lecturer.unri.ac.id

Abstract

Peatlands have unique characteristics that are largely determined by the peat thickness. Ombrogenous peat has a high carbon content and low ash content, but not many studies have reported that this relationship also occurs in deep peat domes. This study aims to identify the C-organic content and ash content and determine the pattern of their relationship with peat thickness vertically from the peat surface to the mineral layer below the peat. Peat profile observations were made using a peat drill (Eijkelkamp, Giesbeek, Netherlands) by taking 50 cm and 5.2 cm peat cores in Meskom Village, Bengkalis Regency. Soil samples were taken every 20 cm thickness for laboratory analysis. Data were analysed using simple linear regression. The results showed that the thickness of peat in the study area was classified as very deep peat. Peat thickness and carbon content have a vertical relationship, where C-organic content increases with increasing peat thickness, while peat thickness and ash content have an inverse vertical relationship, where ash content decreases with increasing peat thickness. The vertical relationship between C-organic content and ash content is inverse, where an increase in C-organic content is followed by a decrease in ash content.