peat

Peat is cut in lines across the bog and left to dry. It is a slow-burning fuel that is still used in many Irish houses.

Cut turf lies drying above an Irish bog. The peat is produced over thousands of years, forming a fossil fuel that may, due to overuse, become exhausted.

Organic matter found in bogs and formed by the incomplete decomposition of plants such as sphagnum moss. Northern Asia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, and other places have large deposits, which have been dried and used as fuel from ancient times. Peat can also be used as a soil additive.

Peat bogs began to be formed when glaciers retreated, about 9,000 years ago. They grow at the rate of only a millimetre a year, and large-scale digging can result in destruction both of the bog and of specialized plants growing there. The destruction of peat bogs is responsible for diminishing fish stocks in coastal waters; the run-off from the peatlands carries high concentrations of iron, which affects the growth of the plankton on which the fish feed.

Approximately 60% of the world's wetlands are peat. In May 1999 the Ramsar Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands approved a peatlands action plan that should have a major impact on the conservation of peat bogs.

Peat bogs allow for excellent preservation of organic materials (wood, leather, plant matter, animals), which usually decompose in archaeological sites. Several in Scandinavia have been excavated and have provided data on prehistoric settlements. A number of ancient corpses, some the result of ritual murders, have also been found preserved in peat bogs.