Also on the islands in the temperate parts of the south atlantic and south pacific oceans. Properties Bogs have a fibric poorly decomposed peat consisting mostly of the remains of sphagnum. Decomposition is so incomplete that plant tissues, including those mosses, are a lot of the time still identifiable at a depth more than ten feet and after thousands of years. The vegetation history of bogs can be made by using time scales based on 14 C or other dating techniques. Pollen trapped and preserved in peat are used to determine the vegetation history of surrounding upland areas.
Peat accumulation is a result of an excess of production of decomposition.
Obviously the very presence of bogs shows the production exceeded decay over the entire period of bog formation. In moist bogs production and decomposition appear to be equal at present. Decomposition of organic matter in peat bogs is slow due to the high water table, which causes the absence of oxygen in most peat moss, and the low fertility of peat. Bogs unlike some peatlands can accumulate organic matter way above the ground water table. The level in which these bogs rise above the surroundings depends on how wet the climate is and the size of the bog.