the.com/moor
where soil quits, water wins, and the horizon goes quietly feral
means A moor is an open stretch of wild, often boggy upland, covered in heather, rough grass, and peat rather than trees or crops.
from From Old English 'mor,' meaning marsh or barren upland — a word with cousins across the Germanic family, like Dutch 'moer' and German 'Moor,' all circling the same idea of waterlogged, untamed ground. (Worth noting: the 'moor' of wild heath is a different word from 'moor' meaning to tie up a boat, and from 'Moor' the old name for North African peoples — three lookalikes from separate roots that happened to converge in spelling.)
- carbon vault
- peat moors store more carbon than forests
- slow growth
- peat builds about one millimeter per year
- fire memory
- dried peat can smolder underground for months
- acid trap
- low oxygen preserves bodies for thousands of years
- word twin
- also means to tie up a ship
bodmin moor — largest moor in southwest england, spanning 80 square miles across cornwall and devon
dartmoor — exposed moorland in devon covering 368 square miles, home to wild ponies and bronze age settlements
north york moors — area of moorland in northeast england covering 554 square miles, designated as a national park in 1952