Raised Bog

An ombrotrophic bog that has grown, over millennia, into a shallow dome rising above the surrounding water table — high enough that it is cut off from groundwater and mineral-bearing runoff, and receives water only as rainfall. German: Hochmoor (“high moor”).

Characteristics

• pH 3.3–4.5 — strongly acidic
• Nutrient- and mineral-poor — no groundwater input
• Vegetation — dominated by sphagnum moss, which both causes and depends on the acidic, waterlogged conditions
• Peat chemistry — high organic content, high concentration of humic substances relative to minerals

Why It Matters for Cosmetic Peat

The middle and lower layers of raised bogs — isolated from surface contamination and rich in humic acids, fulvic acids, and phenolic compounds from sphagnum decomposition — are the source of most premium cosmetic and therapeutic peat. Estonian, Finnish, and much of the Baltic peat industry draws from raised bogs. Contrast with fen peat (mineral-richer, less acidic) and blanket bog peat (a different bog morphology shaped by oceanic climate rather than basin topography).