Soil Hydrology Under Fire Essay -- Geology Natural Nature Essays

Soil Hydrology Under Fire Soil type is a function of five factors: parent material, climate, topography, biota, and time (Singer and Munns, 1996). Fire's effect on soil can be described in the same manner and, interestingly enough, is almost identical to the five factors of soil formation with only a couple of minor modifications. First, the parent material for a burned soil is the original soil itself plus the fuel consumed in the fire. Second, climate includes not only weather-related variables but also the burning temperature of the fire. This paper focuses specifically on one aspect of the climate factor: the effect of water. It investigates both how soil moisture influences fire severity, and conversely, how fire severity influences the hydrology of a soil. Based on this discussion a land management recommendation states that prescribed fires should be utilized during wetter times of the year to maximize the positive effects for vegetation and to minimize the negative effect of soil erosion. Rapid plant regrowth is essential to the rehabilitation of a burned area, for plants greatly influence the hydrology of a soil. But for plants to grow back on a burned area, they require several nutrients whose concentrations are modified by fires. The degree of these modifications are determined by a fire's temperature, but there are a few general trends. Levels of phosphorus (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993 and Marion et al., 1991) and pH (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993) both increase during a fire. Conversely, nitrogen decreases during a fire (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993, Marion et al., 1991). Chemical concentrations in burned soils are greatly affected by a fire's intensity. Ulery and Graham (1993) classify fire intensity into three major cla... ...h deposition, and clipping effects on soil nutrients in chaparral: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 55, 235-240. Robichaud, P. R. and Waldrop, T. A., 1994, A comparison of surface runoff and sediment yields from low- and high-severity site preparation burns: Water Resources Bulletin, 30, 27-34. Samran, S., Woodard, P. M., and Rothwell, R. L., 1995, The effect of soil water on ground fuel availability: Forest Science, 41, 255-267. Scott, D. F. and Van Wyk, D. B., 1990, The effects of wildfire on soil wettability and hydrological behavior of an afforested catchment: Journal of Hydrology, 121, 239-256. Singer, M. J, and Munns, D. N., 1996, Soils: an introduction: Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall Inc., 480 p. Ulery, A. L. and Graham, R. C., 1993, Forest fire effects on soils color and texture: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 57, 135-140. Soil Hydrology Under Fire Essay -- Geology Natural Nature Essays Soil Hydrology Under Fire Soil type is a function of five factors: parent material, climate, topography, biota, and time (Singer and Munns, 1996). Fire's effect on soil can be described in the same manner and, interestingly enough, is almost identical to the five factors of soil formation with only a couple of minor modifications. First, the parent material for a burned soil is the original soil itself plus the fuel consumed in the fire. Second, climate includes not only weather-related variables but also the burning temperature of the fire. This paper focuses specifically on one aspect of the climate factor: the effect of water. It investigates both how soil moisture influences fire severity, and conversely, how fire severity influences the hydrology of a soil. Based on this discussion a land management recommendation states that prescribed fires should be utilized during wetter times of the year to maximize the positive effects for vegetation and to minimize the negative effect of soil erosion. Rapid plant regrowth is essential to the rehabilitation of a burned area, for plants greatly influence the hydrology of a soil. But for plants to grow back on a burned area, they require several nutrients whose concentrations are modified by fires. The degree of these modifications are determined by a fire's temperature, but there are a few general trends. Levels of phosphorus (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993 and Marion et al., 1991) and pH (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993) both increase during a fire. Conversely, nitrogen decreases during a fire (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993, Marion et al., 1991). Chemical concentrations in burned soils are greatly affected by a fire's intensity. Ulery and Graham (1993) classify fire intensity into three major cla... ...h deposition, and clipping effects on soil nutrients in chaparral: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 55, 235-240. Robichaud, P. R. and Waldrop, T. A., 1994, A comparison of surface runoff and sediment yields from low- and high-severity site preparation burns: Water Resources Bulletin, 30, 27-34. Samran, S., Woodard, P. M., and Rothwell, R. L., 1995, The effect of soil water on ground fuel availability: Forest Science, 41, 255-267. Scott, D. F. and Van Wyk, D. B., 1990, The effects of wildfire on soil wettability and hydrological behavior of an afforested catchment: Journal of Hydrology, 121, 239-256. Singer, M. J, and Munns, D. N., 1996, Soils: an introduction: Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall Inc., 480 p. Ulery, A. L. and Graham, R. C., 1993, Forest fire effects on soils color and texture: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 57, 135-140.