"...susserus shushing of waves ..." I love susseration.

Once, on a camping trip, we stood there in the darkness that had gathered around us while leaving the sky still lit enough to show the silhouettes of flock of ducks coming in to land on the lake for the night. The only sound overhead, except for the very occasional solitary honk was the suss suss suss of their wings.

Question: Is peat merely below-ground vegetation that has decayed? Would the permafrost of the north be burnable if it were cut into cakes and dried?