Small variations in soil propierties control fire-induced water repellency

Fire induced soil water repellency (WR) is controlled by many different factors (temperature reached, amount and type of fuel, etc.). Soil properties may determine the occurrence and intensity of this property in burned soils. The objectives of this paper are to make advances in the study of soil pr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Mataix Solera, Jorge, Arcenegui Baldó, Victoria, Martínez Zavala, Lorena María, Pérez Bejarano, Andrea, Jordán López, Antonio, Morugán Coronado, Alicia, Bárcenas Moreno, G., Jiménez Pinilla, Patricia, Lozano Guardiola, Elena, Granged, A.J.P., Gil Torres, Juan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/32099
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11441/32099
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Forest fire
soil
heating
hydrology
Descripción
Sumario:Fire induced soil water repellency (WR) is controlled by many different factors (temperature reached, amount and type of fuel, etc.). Soil properties may determine the occurrence and intensity of this property in burned soils. The objectives of this paper are to make advances in the study of soil properties as key factors controlling the behaviour of fire-induced WR, and to study the impact of pre-fire SOM content and SOM quality in fire-induced soil WR. In this research, experimental laboratory burnings were carried out using soil samples from different sites with different lithologies, soil types and plant species. Soil samples from the same site differ only in quantity and quality of soil organic matter, as they were collected from under different plant species. All soil samples were heated in a muffle furnace at 200, 250, 300 and 350 ºC without the addition of any fuel load. WR was measured using the water drop penetration time test (WDPT). The results showed significant differences between soil types and plant species, indicating that small differences in soil properties may act as key factors controlling the development and persistence of WR reached, with burned soil samples ranging from wettable to extremely water repellent. The main soil property controlling the response was texture, specifically sand content. The quality of organic matter was also observed to have an effect, since soil samples from the same site with similar organic matter contents, but collected from beneath different plant species, showed different WR values after burning