Studying the humification degree and evolution of peat down a Holocene bog profile (Inuvik, NW Canada): A petrological and chemical perspective

In the present work, the authors followed the evolution of peat OM along a 165 cm bog profile (covering the mid- to late Holocene) correlating results obtained from both organic petrological and chemical investigation. Data clearly underline a significant agreement between the two perspectives, both showing either a quite immature peat material or the presence of three distinct zones along the profile. In detail, both spectroscopic (i.e., FT-IR and three dimensional fluorescence spectra, humification indexes), and Rock-Eval pyrolysis results (low residual organic carbon content and high hydrogen and oxygen index values) showed the occurrence of a central zone (from 20-30 cm to 120 cm depth) often characterized by high heterogeneity and a low degree of humification when compared to the upper ∼20 and bottom 40 cm sections.