Icelandic Inland Wetlands: Characteristics and Extent of Draining

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2016-08, Vol.36 (4), p.759-769
• Main Authors: Arnalds, Olafur, Gudmundsson, Jon, Oskarsson, Hlynur, Brink, Sigmundur H., Gisladottir, Fanney O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20th century; Agricultural production; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Climate change; Coastal Sciences; Drainage; Drainage ditches; Ecology; Environmental Management; Environmental restoration; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Glaciers; Hydrogeology; Intensive farming; Landscape Ecology; Life Sciences; Nutrients; Review Article; Sheep; Soil erosion; Soils; Vegetation; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-016-0784-1

Iceland has inland wetland areas with soils exhibiting both Andosol and Histosol properties which are uncommon elsewhere on Earth. They are generally fertile, with higher bird-nest densities than in similar wetlands in the neighboring countries, with nutrients released by rapid weathering of aeolian materials of basaltic nature. Icelandic inland wetlands cover about 9000 km 2 constituting 19.4 % of the vegetated surfaces of the island. The wetland soils are often 1–3 m thick and store 33 to >100 kg C m −2 . They have been subjected to broad-scale subsidy-driven draining for agricultural purposes. About 47 % of Icelandic inland wetlands are impacted by drainage. The ditch network extends about 30,000 km, mainly in lowland areas, where about 70 % of the wetland areas are impacted. There are >1 million wetland patches, most of them