Skip to main content
Author(s):
Francis K. Rengers
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire Effects
Ecological - Second Order
Soils
Water
Post-fire Management
Post-fire Rehabilitation
Erosion Control
Recovery after fire
Restoration

NRFSN number: 21241
Record updated:

Wildfire has been a constant presence on the Earth since at least the Silurian period, and is a landscape-scale catalyst that results in a step-change perturbation for hydrologic systems, which ripples across burned terrain, shaping the geomorphic legacy of watersheds. Specifically, wildfire alters two key landscape properties: (1) overland flow, and (2) soil erodibility. Overland flow and soil erodibility have both been seen to increase after wildfires, resulting in order-of-magnitude increases in erosion rates during rainstorms with relatively frequent recurrence intervals. On short timescales, wildfire increases erosion and leads to natural hazards that are costly and threatening to society. Over longer timescales, wildfire-induced erosion can account for the majority of total denudation in certain settings with long-term implications for landscape evolution. There is a special focus on debris flows in this document because they are the most destructive geomorphic processes observed to follow wildfires after high severity burns. To date, research on post-wildfire debris flows has focused on: the provenance of sediment moved in debris flows, the hydrologic and soil properties required to produce debris flows, and debris flow initiation mechanisms. Herein we highlight the relevant research articles showing the current state of progress in debris flow research as well as pointing to the fundamental research on post-wildfire hydrology and erosion necessary for understanding how water and sediment behave after wildfires.

Citation

Rengers FK. 2019. Wildfire as a catalyst for hydrologic and geomorphic change. Environmental Science DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199363445-0112.

Access this Document

Treesearch

publication access with no paywall

Check to see if this document is available for free in the USDA Forest Service Treesearch collection of publications. The collection includes peer reviewed publications in scientific journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports produced by Forest Service employees, as well as science synthesis publications and other products from Forest Service Research Stations.