Occurrences & Classification of Peat &

Organic Soils
Peat is found in many countries throughout the world.

In the US, peat is found in 42 states, with a total

acreage of 30 million hectares.

Canada and Russia are the two countries with a large

area of peat, 170 and 150 million hectares
respectively.
Percentage of national area covered by peat in different countries in rank
Order (Hartlen & Wolski, 1996)
Rank Country Peatland area Peat area order

(Million hectares) %

1 Finland 10.4 33.5

2 Canada 170 18.4
3 Republic of Ireland 1.2 17.2
4 Sweden 7.6 17.1
5 Indonesia 26 13.7
6 Northern Ireland 0.2 12.7
7 Scotland 0.8 0.4
8 Iceland 1.0 9.7
9 Norway 3.0 9.4
10 Malaysia 3.0 8.0
11 Wales 0.2 7.7
12 The Netherlands 0.3 7.4
13 Russia 150 6.7
14 Germany 1.7 4.8
15 Poland 1.4 4.4
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For case of tropical peat, the total area of tropical peat
swamp forests or tropical peat lands in the world is about
30 million hectares.

2/3rd of which are in Southeast Asia.

In Malaysia, some 3 million hectares (about 8%) of the

country land area is covered with peat.

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Distribution of peat land in
Malaysia
In Indonesia peat covers about
26 million hectare of the
country land area. Almost half
of the peat land total is found
in Indonesia’s Kalimantan.
Location of lowland
peat land of Borneo
and vicinity (Rieley,
1991)
Peat is also found in many other part of Asia like Japan,
Bangladesh, and China.

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All present day surface deposit of peat in Europe, Asia,
Canada and America are believed to have accumulated
since the last ice age and therefore have been formed
during the last 20,000 years.

On the other hand, some buried peat may have been

developed during the inter-glacial period.

Peat also has accumulated in postglacial lakes and

marshes where they interbedded with silts and muds.
It is generally recognized that when a soil possess
organic content of greater than 20%, the mechanical
criteria of the conventional mineral soil (silt and clay)
can no longer generally applied.
Slightly Organic silts or clays will most probably appear
as inorganic fined grained soils, probably black to dark
brown in color, have an organic odor and possibly some
visible organic remains.

Their plasticity limits should be evaluated as for other

fine-grained inorganic soils.

These soils would then be classified as silts or clays of

low, medium and high plasticity.
Peat on the other hand may well appear
to be completely organic, contain
recognizable plant remains, have a low
density and also black to dark brown in
color.

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Organic soils however are more difficult to sub-divide.

Under the Unified Soil Classification System (UCS),

organic soils are recognized as a separate soil entity and
has a major division called Highly Organic Soils (Pt),
which refers to peat, muck and highly organic soils.

Jarret (1995) give a classification for organic soils,

which, purportedly, can be integrated with the UCS to
bridge the gap between peat, and purely inorganic clays,
and silts and is shown in the following Table.
Organic soil classification based on organic
content ranges (Jarret, 1995) (ASTM D4427)

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Hobbs (1986) illustrates the various classification of peat
between countries as follows.

1. Russian geotechnical engineers assume that peat is a

soil containing more than 50% of particle weight of
vegetable origin (organic matters) while peaty soil
contain 10% to 50% of particles of vegetable origin.

2. ASTM, D2607-69 assumes peat as a soil having

organic matter of more than 75%, as stated above.

3. Hobbs suggests that peat is a soil having organic

matter more than 27.5%.
 LPC (France) describes
organic soils as soil
having greater than 10%
organic content.

LPC classification of organic soils (Magnan, 1994) 15

Comparison of various classification systems
Andrejko et al. (1983)
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 Classification based on Degree of
Humification & Fiber Content
Another useful means to classify peat or organic soils as
oppose to mineral soils (silts and clay) is to base on
their:

1. Fiber content, and

2. Degree of humification or decomposition (Van Post

scale).

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The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides a
three-point scale classification based on fiber content
resulting from decomposition.

Organic Van Post scale Qualifying terms Symbol component

Peat Pt
H1 – H3 Fibric/Fibrous f
H4 – H6 Hemic/Moderately h
decomposed
H7 – H10 Sapric/Amorphous a

Qualifying terms and symbols for peat

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Fiber content is determined typically from dry weight of
fibers retained on #100 sieve (> 0.15 mm opening size)
as percentage of oven-dried mass (ASTM Standard D
1997).

Fibers may be fine (woody or non-woody) or coarse

(woody).

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 SEM of Fibrous peat

200 µm

SEM of Amorphous
peat

500 µm

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Van Post
scale

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Fibric peat is mostly undecomposed, typically tan to light
reddish brown in color.

Hemic peat is intermediate between fibric and sapric

peat in degree of decomposition or humification, organic
content and bulk density, and typically dark reddish
brown in color.

Sapric peat on the other hand is generally of darker color

the above two types of peat, and the most
decomposed/humified. It generally has higher organic
content and bulk density of the three types of peat
mentioned above.

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Fibrous peat is low-humified and has a distinct plant
structure. It is brown to brownish-yellow in color.
If a sample is squeezed in the hand, it gives brown to
colorless, cloudy to clear water, but without any peat
matter.
The material remaining in the hand has a fibrous
structure. (Degree of decomposition on the Von Post
scale; H1-H4.)

Pseudo-fibrous peat is moderately humified and has an

indistinct to relatively distinct plant structure.
It is usually brown. If a sample is squeezed in the hand,
less than half of the peat mass passes between the
fingers.
The material remaining in the hand has - a more or less
mushy consistency, but with a distinct plant structure,
(H5-H7).
Amorphous peat is highly humified the plant structure is
very indistinct or invisible.

It is brown to brown-black in color. If a sample is

squeezed in the hand, more than half of the peat mass
passes between the fingers without any free water
running out.

When squeezing, only a few more solid components, such

as root fibers, wood remnants, etc. can be felt.
These constitute any material remaining in the hand,
(H8-H10).

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Decomposition or humification involves the loss of organic
matter either as gas or in solution, the disappearance of
physical structure and change in chemical state.

Breakdown of plant remains is brought about by soil micro

flora, bacteria, fungi which are responsible for aerobic
decay.

Therefore the end products of humification are carbon

dioxide and water, the process being essentially
biochemical oxidation.

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Immersion in water reduces the oxygen supply enormously
which in turn reduces aerobic microbial activity and
encourages anaerobic decay, which is much less rapid.

This results in the accumulation of partially decayed plant

material as peat.

Peat degree of decomposition or humification is usually

assessed by means of Van Post scale.

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The Malaysian Soil Classification for organic soils
includes the two factors mentioned above:

1. Organic content, and

2. Degree of humification.
Organic Soils and Peat Section of Malaysian Soil
Classification Systems for engineering purposes (based on
BS 5930:1981, after Jarret, 1995)

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In addition to the organic and fiber content, and degree
of humification, other index parameters such as:

1. Water content,
2. Liquid limits,
3. Specific gravity,
4. Unit weights

are also useful parameters for peat and organic soils.

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Hobbs (1986), and Edil (1997) suggested the following 7
characteristics should be included in a full description of
a peat.

3. Water content determined by oven drying method at 105 deg C.

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4. Principal plant components, namely coarse fiber, fine fiber,
amorphous.

5. Organic content as percentage of dry weight, determined

from loss of ignition at 450-550 deg C as percentage of oven
dried mass at 105 deg C.

6. Liquid limit and plastic limit (if applicable).

7. Fiber content determined from dry weight of fiber retained on

#100 sieve (>0.15 mm) as percentage of oven dried mass.

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Any Questions?