Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and stable isotope records of paleoenvironmental conditions during peat formation

Generally the radical concentration increases with depth (0.05-5 × 1017 spins/gram). However the g-values, line width parameters, and spin concentrations exhibit strong variations in some peat layers. Variation of these parameters observed for certain peat horizons correlate with the variation of carbon stable isotopic composition. For the old well-conserved peat deposits (e.g. Scotland/UK, ∼5600BP), variation of EPR parameters may be used to study paleo redox conditions.