Recreating atmospheric sulphur deposition histories from peat stratigraphy: Diagenetic conditions required for signal preservation and reconstruction of past sulphur deposition in the Derbyshire Peak District, UK

Three peat types were sampled from the southern Pennines, an area with a gross history of sulphur pollution during the Industrial Revolution: high hummock peat, low hummock peat and waterlogged peat from a pool complex. In drier, high and low hummock peat types, diagenesis and decomposition were not found to be significant processes in the upper portions of the peat. Hence, alterations in the isotopic composition of the organic sulphur fraction in the profile reflect that of the depositional environment. In the hummock peats, organically bound sulphur becomes isotopically lighter at around 1400 AD, which may reflect alterations in local sulphur inputs at this time due to the small-scale smelting of lead in the area. Isotopic compositions become progressively lighter still towards the peat surface layers, which correlate well with the excesses of sulphur deposition, largely from coal burning, during the Industrial Revolution.