Hydraulic and Physical Properties of Managed and Intact Peatlands: Application of the Van Genuchten‐Mualem Models to Peat Soils

Undisturbed peatlands are effective carbon sinks and provide a variety of ecosystem services. However, anthropogenic disturbances, especially land drainage, strongly alter peat soil properties jeopardize the benefits peatlands. The effects disturbances should therefore be assessed predicted. To support accurate modeling, this study determined physical hydraulic intact disturbed samples collected from 59 sites (in total 3,073 samples) in Finland Norway. bulk density (BD), porosity, specific yield (Sy) values obtained indicated that top layer (0–30 cm depth) at agricultural extraction was most affected by use change. BD agricultural, extraction, forestry 441%, 140%, 92% higher, respectively, than Porosity decreased with increased BD, but not linearly. Agricultural had lowest saturated conductivity, Sy, highest options studied. van Genuchten-Mualem (vGM) water retention curve (SWRC) conductivity (K) models proved to applicable for soils tested, providing SWRC, K, vGM-parameters (α n) layers (top, middle bottom) under different uses. A decrease content ≥10% reduced unsaturated K two orders magnitude. This unique data set can used improve hydrological modeling peat-dominated catchments fuller integration into large-scale models.