Data on chemical characteristics of waters in two boreal Sphagnum mires (North-Western Russia)

The dataset contains chemical parameters of waters in different mire water bodies (fen strip, bog stream, Sphagnum hollows, hollow-pools, intra-mire lakes, drainage way). Data were collected once a month from May till September 2012 and in May, July and September 2013 and 2014 in Shichengskoe and Alekseevskoe-1 mires (Vologda Region, Russia). Water samples were kept in a cooling bag and transported to the laboratory within a day. Prior to analyses, water samples were filtered (pore size 90 μm). Colour of water, pH, permanganate value, dry residues, and total iron, manganese, carbonate, phosphate, sulphate and nitrate ion concentrations were measured. Data were obtained by the atomic absorption spectrometry and spectrophotometric and titrimetric methods. The pH values varied from 3.7 in Sphagnum hollows to 6.9 in a bog stream and 7.2 in a primary intra-mire lake. The minimum permanganate value of 5.6 mg O/L was registered in a bog stream, the maximum of 150.4 mg O/L in a weakly waterlogged Sphagnum hollow. Dry residue values varied in a range of 35 mg/L in a large hollow-pool to 315 mg/L in a flow-through fen strip. The data are useful for investigating chemical composition of waters in different mire water bodies and the heterogeneity of these abiotic factors.