Comparative analysis of the component composition of mature and buried wood

   The component composition of samples of mature and buried wood in peat deposits was studied. Differences in the component composition of buried wood samples are shown, indicating the heterogeneous nature of the deposit areas in terms of the botanical composition of peat-forming plants, the degree of decomposition, as well as different depths of the recovered samples. Samples of mature and buried wood were studied by IR spectroscopy. The spectra of the studied samples of buried wood are close to each other both in the set of absorption bands and in their intensity, which indicates similar chemical composition of the studied samples. The same fact is observed in case of the spectra of deciduous wood samples (birch, oak, alder). A comparative analysis of the IR spectra of buried and mature wood showed a difference in the absorption region of carbonyl groups (the band at 1732 cm^–1, present in the spectra of mature coniferous wood (pellets)), is not observed in the spectrum of buried, which may be due to the interaction of these functional groups in buried wood with ions of ash elements of a peat deposit, it was established that the main processes of samples thermal decomposition occur in a rather narrow temperature range compared to peat – from 301 to 386 ºC, while 61 to 72 % of the organic mass decomposes, the maximum rate of thermolysis, is in the range of 358–362 ºC for both mature and buried wood, with the exception of oak, which has a temperature maximum at 347 ºC.

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