What is peat bed made of?
Peat deposits are found in many places around the world, notably in Ireland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, Scotland, Poland, northern Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, New Zealand and in North America, principally in Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, the Florida Everglades, and California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The amount of peat is smaller in the southern hemisphere, as there is less land, but peat can be found in New Zealand, Kerguelen, Southern Patagonia/Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands Approximately 60% of the world’s wetlands are peat. About 7% of total peatlands have been exploited for agriculture and forestry.[citation needed] Under proper conditions, peat will turn into lignite coal over geologic periods of time. [edit] Formation Peat forms when plant material, usually in marshy areas, is inhibited from decaying fully by acidic and anaerobic conditions. It is composed mainly of marshland vegetation: trees, grasses, fungi, as well as other t
