QUALITY OF RUNOFF FROM MINNESOTA PEATLANDS: I. A CHARACTERIZATION1

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Abstract
The likelihood of expanded use of Minnesota's 3 million hectares of peatlands prompted the state to initiate a hydrologic study to characterize these groundwater‐linked systems. Determining the quality of streamflow from these peatlands was an integral part of the study. Peatlands could be differentiated either on the basis of streamflow quality or on soil‐vegetation characteristics. The quality of streamflow from 45 undisturbed peatlands was characterized by collecting samples five times in 1979‐80 and analyzing them for 27 water quality characteristics. Runoff pH, specific conductance, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium were used to classify the peatlands as bog, transition, or fen. Bog runoff was lower (α= 0.05) in pH, calcium, sodium, manganese, and ammonia nitrogen than fen runoff, but was higher in acidity, color, aluminum, humic and fulvic acid, and chemical oxygen demand than fen runoff. Bogs had more fibric peat of a lower pH than fens; fens exhibited tall woody shrubs which were virtually absent on bogs.