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Article: Dangers from global warming locked up in tracts of moorland
- Article from:
- Yorkshire Post
- Article date:
- March 14, 2007
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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OVER the past 10,000 years, vast swathes of Yorkshire's moorlands
have kept tonnes of carbon locked away in their peat soils.
Decaying organic matter amassed in the moors since the last Ice
Age could now, however, be responsible for releasing catastrophic
levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Scientists say climate change poses such a grave danger that
unprecedented amounts of carbon are being emitted from the soil of
moorlands throughout the United Kingdom.
Research by Yorkshire scientists is being carried out to establish
the levels of emissions from the peat, which ranks as the most carbon-
rich soil type.
However, the National Soil Resources Institute has estimated that
up to 13m ...