Chat Moss it for agriculture. About of degraded bog remain, with of undamaged peat deposits in four former peat extraction sites. The peat varies in depth between and . The main bog mosses found in the peat of Chat Moss are "Sphagnum cuspidatum", "S. imbricatum", and "S. acutifolia". The peat up to about from the surface is mainly humidified "S. acutifolia", with fresher "S. imbricatum" peat nearer the surface. A area of Chat Moss, to the north of the Liverpool–Manchester railway line, notified as Astley & Bedford Mosses, was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1989. Astley & Bedford Mosses,
Sphagnum short-lived, and consists almost entirely of a shiny green, spherical spore capsule that becomes black with spores. Sporophytes are raised on stalks to facilitate spore dispersal, but unlike other mosses, "Sphagnum" stalks are produced by the maternal gametophyte. Tetrahedral haploid spores are produced in the sporophyte by meiosis, which are then dispersed when the capsule explosively discharges its cap, called an operculum, and shoots the spores some distance. The spores germinate to produce minute protonemae, which start as filaments, can become thalloid, and can produce a few rhizoids. Soon afterwards, the protonema develops buds and these differentiate into its characteristic,