Quantifying spatial peat depth with seismic micronodes and the implications for carbon stock estimates

Peatlands are a major store of soil carbon, due to their high concentration of carbon-rich decayed plant material. Consequently, accurate assessment of peat volumes is important for determining land-use carbon budgets, especially in the Northern hemisphere. Determination of carbon stocks at the scale of individual peat sites has principally relied on either mechanical probing or electromagnetic geophysical methods. In this study, researchers investigated the use of seismic nodal instrumentation for quantifying peat depth.

STRYDE nodes were used for a deployment at the Whixall moss in Shropshire, England. Researchers measured seismic arrival times from peat-bottom reflections, as well as dispersive surface waves to invert for a model of variable peat depth along a linear cross-section.