The article explains how their work will help geologists understand these ecosystems and revel how big they really are. Seen from space, the Amazon River winds like a silk ribbon from the Andes to the Atlantic. Here, it delivers a fifth of the freshwater that enters the world's oceans. Along its length beneath feathery palm fronds, in old channels carved out by the river, lie some of the most substantial peatlands in the tropics. Some of these are many kilometers long, the size of small towns, and like small towns they have their own colorful inhabitants. If a peatland drains quickly when the moisture source is switched off it means that the carbon stored there is more vulnerable to release during dry conditions, as oxygen can reach the peat in the upper layers and cause fast aerobic decay.