Evaluating the factors responsible for post-fire water quality response in forests of the western USA
Ashley J. Rust A E , Samuel Saxe B , John McCray A C , Charles C. Rhoades
D and Terri S. Hogue A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Hydrologic Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
B U.S. Geological Survey, Water Mission Area, Southwest Region, Lakewood, Colorado, CO 80226, USA.
C Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
D U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 240 West Prospect, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA.
E Corresponding author. Email: arust@mymail.mines.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 28(10) 769-784 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18191
Submitted: 30 October 2018 Accepted: 6 July 2019 Published: 3 September 2019
Abstract
Wildfires commonly increase nutrient, carbon, sediment and metal inputs to streams, yet the factors responsible for the type, magnitude and duration of water quality effects are poorly understood. Prior work by the current authors found increased nitrogen, phosphorus and cation exports were common the first 5 post-fire years from a synthesis of 159 wildfires across the western United States. In the current study, an analysis is undertaken to determine factors that best explain post-fire streamwater responses observed in those watersheds. Increased post-fire total nitrogen and phosphorus loading were proportional to the catchment extent of moderate and high burn severity. While post-fire dissolved metal concentrations were correlated with pre-fire soil organic matter. Total metal concentration increased where post-fire Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, a remote sensing indicator of live green vegetation, was low. When pre-fire soil field capacity exceeded 17%, there was a 750% median increase in total metals export to streams. Overall, the current analysis identified burn severity, post-fire vegetation cover and several soil properties as the key variables explaining extended post-fire water quality response across a broad range of conditions found in the western US.
Additional keywords: metals, nutrients, pre-fire soil, streams, vegetation recovery, wildfire.
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