Smoking Hills Peat Monolith 2017 Collection

We collected peat monoliths (square samples of surface peat) for the purpose of completing various analyses that will permit us to reconstruct and, ultimately, forecast controls on wetland chemistry, hydrology, and ecohydrology. The purpose of the research is to improve modelling of the response of sub-arctic and arctic wetlands to 21st. c. warming.The purpose was to collect peat monoliths for the following analyses: dating (Pb-210 and C-14), geochemistry (ICP-MS following aqua regia digestion), paleontology (testate amoebae), hydrology reconstruction (using testate amoebae), plant composition through time (using plant macrofossils and pollen and spores preserved in the peats), and ecohydrological modelling based on these analyses. Peat monoliths are collected using a saw or spade to cut out a block of peat. The peat is then measured and sub-sampled in the lab for the aforementioned analyses. The study areas were selected based on other on-going work (bedrock mapping in the NWT and an on-the-land Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit camp in Nunavut) that offered opportunities for peat monolith collection, experiential learning in the case of the IQ camp, and because the ecohydrological future of high-latitude peats in response to 21st century warming is poorly known and these peatlands are important for global carbon dynamics.