0 a dark brown substance like soil that was formed by plants dying and becoming buried. It is sometimes added to ordinary garden soil to improve it and is sometimes used as fuel.
1 partly decayed plant matter, used to improve garden dirt or as fuel
The preferred soil types ranged from peat to almost pure sand.
An allotment of part of the moor was planned so that peat-cutting could continue when the rest of the moor was enclosed.
A peat monolith was extracted and seen to contain three tephra layers.
To be formed, raised (ombrotrophic) mires require high annual precipitations (> 2500 mm) evenly distributed through the year to protect the peat from severe oxidation.
In this way the archaeological finds in the peat or on the beaches could also be dated.
The topography was gently rolling, with thick peat extending in the lower parts and white sandy soils dominating in the upper parts.
These gradual rises in the number of plant species reflect improved peat-forming conditions resulting from local rises of the water table.
The tubs were half filled with a mixture of steamsterilized sandy loam (50%), peat (30%) and grit (20%).