泥炭又称草炭或泥煤,是未完全分解和已分解的有机残体(主要是植物残体),长期积累起来的物质。现代沼泽地仍在积累着的泥炭,叫裸露(或表露)泥炭,亦即现代泥炭沼泽,如沼泽已消失,泥炭被埋没于地下,则称为埋藏泥炭。 泥炭具有广泛的用途,是一种宝贵的自然资源。根据有关学科和我室多年的调查研究,经初步整理与分析,草成此文,望指正。

The peat in China has been formed chiefly in various periods since Holocene.The peat deposit reached its acme in Miocene.In China, there exist three types of peat, subdivided into fourteen kinds. Amongthem, the low-moor earex peat ranks as the principal one. The high-moor peat andmedium-moor peat are rather scanty. They are sporadically distributed in small areain regions as Daxinganling, Xiaoxinganling and Changbaishan.The total peat area in China, approximates to 4,159,000 hectares, about 0.43% ofthe total area of China. Its reserve amount is about 2,702 million tons (air-dryweight), in which, the exposed peat is about 80% and the buried peat 20%. Theirdistribution is unblanced. The exposed peat occurs mainly in Daxinganling, Xiaox-inganling, Changbaishan and Sanjiang Plain. Its reserve is about 56% of the wholereserve of China. The peat reserve in Qing-Zang Plateau comes next, constituting 19%About 10% of buried peat is concentratively distributed in the Eastern Plain.The Peat regions in China are classified into six large regions. The exposed peatand buried peat prevailed in the above mentioned three areas respectively.