Water-table Depth and Peat Subsidence Due to Land-use Change of Peatlands

Abstract

The aims of the study were to reveal changes in the water-table depth and peat subsidence due to land-use change in West Kalimantan. The location of the study is peatland in Kubu Raya District-West Kalimantan, namely on four types of peatland-use, including secondary peat forest (SPF), shrubs (SB), oil palm plantation (CPP) and corn field (CF). The research parameters include depth of groundwater and peat subsidence. The results show that the conversion of peatland to other peatlands causes an increase in peat subsidy. The research parameters include water-table depth and peat subsidence. The results show that the land-use change of peatlands to other peatlands causes an increase in peat subsidence. The increase in subsidence in measurement II (October 2016) coincides with an increase in water-table depth and measurement V (April 2017) of 74.6%-90.9%. There is a tendency to increase water-table depth in August and October 2016 and January 2017, especially on SB, OPP and CF. SPF has a deeper water-table depth and deeper subsidence than other land. This is due to the deeper peat soil depth of the SPF (509 cm) while the other relatively shallow areas range from 108.2 to 115.5 cm. The correlation between water-table depth and subsidence shows a close relationship and significant (p<0.01, r = 0.824).