Peat-forming bogs and fens of the Snowy Mountains

Bogs and fens are common in the Snowy Mountains of south-eastern New South Wales (NSW). This study provides the first comprehensive mapping of the region’s peatlands. It has been completed by using aerial photography and satellite imagery, supplemented by field checking, to create a spatial database of the mires. The boundaries generally reflect the situation in February 2003, immediately after a major fire prompted the collection of high resolution aerial photographs of the peatlands. The surface extent of the peatlands is combined with data on the depth of peat and its carbon content to estimate peat volumes and carbon storage. The accumulation history of the mires provided by a 30-year program of coring and radiocarbon dating was used to estimate the long term rates of peat accumulation and carbon sequestration. Mapping done by Rachel Nanson and Geoffrey Hope, ANU.