Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Wildland Fire

Publisher

CSIRO

School

Centre for Ecosystem Management

RAS ID

32864

Funders

Edith Cowan University

Australian Research Council ARC-Linkage Project LP150200654.

Grant Number

ARC Number : LP150200654

Comments

Blake, D., Nyman, P., Nice, H., D'Souza, F., Kavazos, C., & Horwitz, P. (2020). Assessment of post-wildfire erosion risk and effects on water quality in southwestern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 29(3) 240-257 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18123

Abstract

Investigations of wildfire impact on water resources have escalated globally over the last decade owing to an awareness of climate-related vulnerabilities. Within Australia, research into post-wildfire erosion has focused on water supply catchments in the south-eastern region. Here, we examine post-wildfire erosion risk and its potential for water quality impacts in a catchment in south-western Australia. The catchment of the Harvey River, which drains from forested escarpments onto an agricultural coastal plain and into valuable coastal wetlands, was burnt by wildfire in 2016. The aims of this study were to determine erosion risk across contrasting landforms and variable fire severity, using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), and to determine whether post-fire water quality impacts could be detected at permanent river monitoring stations located on the coastal plain. RUSLE outputs showed erosion hot-spots at intersections of steep terrain and high fire severity and that these areas were confined to forested headwaters and coastal dunes. Monthly water quality data showed conspicuous seasonal patterns, but that sampling frequency was temporally too coarse to pick up predicted event-related effects, particularly given that the pre-existing monitoring sites were distal to the predicted zone of contamination. © IAWF 2020 Open Access.

DOI

10.1071/WF18123

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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