Abstract
New field techniques were developed and tested to evaluate peat storativity and hydraulic conductivity in a Boreal fen. Enclosed drainage tests and pumping tests were successfully completed in the thawed peat above an impermeable frozen layer and then repeated when the peat was fully thawed. A loading test experiment constrained values of vertical hydraulic conductivity within an order of magnitude for the peat below a depth of 2 m. An inherent advantage of these tests is that volumes of undisturbed peat on the scale of cubic metres may be characterized. Storativity of the fen peat as determined by enclosed drainage tests ranged from about 1Β·0 at the peat surface to 0Β·35 at a water table depth of 0Β·15 m. Laboratory drainage tests of peat cores gave similar, but widely scattered results. Hydraulic conductivity near the surface was as high as 9Β·0 Γ 10^β3^ ms^β1^ determined with pumping tests and in the range of 10^β6^ to 10^β5^ ms^β1^ below a depth of 2 m, estimated with the loading test. Slug tests gave similar results. Pumping tests, enclosed storativity tests and loading tests are practical largeβscale field tests for determining peat properties. Copyright Β© 2006 Crown in the right of Canada, and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.