Variability of cation-exchange capacity (cec) of fenpeats in vertical profiles from eastern and central poland in relation to function of peat lands as natural geological barriers

An anal y sis of cat ion-ex change ca pac ity (CEC) vari abil ity of peats is pre sented in ver ti cal pro files from east ern and cen tral Po land. CEC val ues were com pared with ash con tent (Ac), pH and CaCO3 con tent. Eight peatlands were selected for re search in the fol low ing ar eas: War saw Pla teau (2 ob jects), Siedlce Pla teau (2 ob jects), Lubartów Pla teau (2 ob jects), Na³êczów Ta ble land (1 ob ject) and Dobrohusk De pres sion (1 ob ject). The peatlands rep re sented a fen peat type of sim i lar bo tanic com po si tions of sed i ments, but they dif fered in the area, peat thick ness and drain age con ditions. Char ac ter is tic reg u lar i ties in CEC vari abil ity were noted in the peatlands and there were three types of CEC vari abil ity in ver ti cal pro files. Car bon ate peats (types 1 and 2) had the high est pH and def i nitely the high est val ues of CEC. In ver ti cal pro files, there was also a zonation, but the reg u lar i ties sim i lar to non-car bon ate peats were not observed. Dif fer ent dis tri bu tion of phys i cal and chem i cal pa ram e ters were es tab lished in ver ti cal pro files in partly drained peatlands (with a muck layer on top) with non-car bon ate peats (type 3) and there were three dis tinct zones in ver tical pro files, with dif fer ent Ac and CEC. De ter mi na tion of the ver ti cal CEC vari abil ity and other phys i cal and chem i calpa ram e ters in peatlands made it pos si ble to dis tin guish zones with po ten tially most ben e fi cial iso la tion con di tions.