Dear Sigit, I suggest you to use geo-electrical prospecting techniques like Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). See the attached paper that could be useful. Regards, Anicet

The GPR is an interesting method to measure it and I enjoyed reading the paper; but I would like to add a note about the variability of these soils in the landscape and if any other method that did not depend on the equipment (not so commum in my country) could be suggested.

Regards, Lucia Anjos

Hi Sigit Sutikno,

Please follow the following links and the pdf attachments for help.

http://www.astm.org/Standards/D4544.htm

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211675313000353

Best of  Luck

In the continuity of my earlier suggestion, the proposition of Dr. Singh is also relevant and useful as well. Best wishes, Anicet.

The accuracy of both probing and geophysical methods will depend on several factors including whether the peat shows a sharp boundary with the enclosing sediments.  Peaty sediments  and gradational layers will interfere with the ease of determination and produce problems with the definition of peat as opposed to sediments with a high organic content.  The geometry of the deposit and landscape also is a critical factor in choosing the necessary spacing of the measurements.  The larger the aerial extent of the deposit and the more varied the shape of its base, the greater the difficulties.  Finally, bear in mind that the peat deposit will oxidize if drained or the surface vegetation is damaged.  If sphagnum mosses move in it will become thicker very quickly and can become dome-shaped.

Stuart.

The special augers are good for sampling, but I agree, for finding depth to the mineral layer the normal one with extensions work fine. Although they require more points to define the contact in the landscape. A study of remote sensing images, nowaday a lot of them are free, and DEM, helps to reduce the number of sampling points.

Prof. Lucia Anjos, UFRRJ

A good long bamboo rod will do it

...dear Sigit, I think you will assess peat thickness in Indonesia? I/we know Indonesien peatlands (...work at CIFOR) and assess their thickness and layers using geophysical devices, augers and extendible rod. For smaller arease you may use extendible rod and GPS (cheap method) or GPR (more expensive method). However, to map large areas you may apply a combination of LIDAR mapping and SRTM data - LIDAR. To my knowledge GIZ and BGR will start to do large scale mapping using LIDAR and SRTM. Nils    

I  think , Andre has raised a very genuine issue , a very cost effective method under all given situation... 

A good PDF enclosed for further reading ...