Mapping and monitoring a Belgian Hautes Fagnes peatland using Ground-Penetrating Radar and Electromagnetic Induction
(2024) 8th International Geologica Belgica Meeting 2024 — Location: Liège (2024.September.11AD)
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- Abstract
- Peatlands are critical ecosystems, offering essential ecological services such as substantial carbon storage. These ecosystems, however, are facing degradation due to land use and climate change. The Hautes Fagnes reserve contains an important part of Belgium’s peatlands and is a key ecosystem for carbon storage, biodiversity support and act as a centre for tourism and educational activities. Peat extraction and peatland drainage for spruce forestry caused environmental degradation, and passive and active restoration are currently ongoing. The actual status of these peatlands in not yet well documented, and is one of the motivations for this research. This study focuses on one of these peatlands, showing a clear topographic gradient, in the headwaters of the Hoëgne River. The objective is to investigate the use of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) techniques to characterize such peatlands. The study particularly focused on peat depth and electrical conductivity assessments, both related to peatland degradation. The use of GPR with a 200 MHz centre frequency antenna allowed to map peat depth. The peat depth on the chosen toposequence is exhibiting a high spatial variability and is ranging from 0.2 to 2.1 m. The EMI measurements allowed to delineate zones of mineral soil. The EMI measurements were also useful to determine the impact of static and dynamic soil properties on bulk soil electrical conductivity. The links between soil static physical and chemical properties and its electrical conductivity are complex in zones of shallow peat. The main factor influencing electrical conductivity dynamics is the pore water conductivity. The results show how peat depth, topography and electrical conductivity are related, and demonstrate how geophysical techniques can be used for non-destructive characterization of peatlands conditions which is of interest in the context of their restoration.
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Henrion, M., Li, Y., Koganti, T., Michel Bechtold, Jonard, F., Opfergelt, S., Vanacker, V., Van Oost, K., & Lambot, S. (2024). Mapping and monitoring a Belgian Hautes Fagnes peatland using Ground-Penetrating Radar and Electromagnetic Induction. 8th International Geologica Belgica Meeting 2024, Liège. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/266388