279 The Current Understanding of the Role of Wetland Hydrology in the Cycling of Elements and other Substances: A Technical Session in Memory of Paul H. Glaser

This session addresses how wetland hydrology affects the cycling of carbon and other elements from both a scientific and regulatory perspective. Contributors to this session will address how changing wetland hydrology affects geochemical cycling on a global to local basis.

Wednesday, 22 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 214A

Hydrogeophysics supports the Glaser model for critical zone architecture controlling peat landform development, peatland ecohydrology and biogeochemistry

Paper number: 279-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:50 PM – 2:05 PM

Authors

Abstract

Modern peatland science has its foundation in the pioneering work from Weber in 1902, who presented a comprehensive study of a peatland in Lithuania that, for the first time, integrated disciplines such as hydrology, ecology, stratigraphy, and chemistry. While much of the work in peatlands through most of the 1900s focused on the characterization of specific processes and peat archives geared towards climate reconstruction, Paul H. Glaser brought, in the late 1970s, a unique vision for multidisciplinary studies in peatland science that focused on understanding how subsurface geology, hydrology and biogeochemical cycles influence initiation, development, and surficial patterns in northern peatlands. Near-surface geophysics has provided images of the critical zone architecture underlying peatlands that confirm many of the ideas, hypotheses, and conceptual models that Glaser had intuitively proposed more than five decades ago. We showcase selected geophysical datasets in northern peatlands that support Glaser’s conceptual understanding of peatlands. These datasets demonstrate how critical zone architecture influences surface processes (such as vegetation patterns and peatland geomorphology) and biogeochemical cycling, including the accumulation and release of biogenic gases such as methane and carbon dioxide.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412617

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