Forest soils, fire

Boyer, D.E. Dell, J.D. Fire effects on Pacific Northwest forest soils USDA For. Serv. PNW Region Portland, OR., 1980 57 p. 

Finally, processes operating at larger spatial scales may control the storage of C in soils. Fire, for example, is as important a loss mechanism as decomposition for organic C in thick detrital layers in boreal forests (Flarden et al., 2000). For fire-prone regions, the net status of the land surface as a C sink or source depends as much on the area burned in a given year as on the responses of decomposition rates to weather variability in unbumed areas. 

Certini, G. (2005). Effects of fire on properties of forest soils A review. Oecologia 143, 1-10. 

Hockaday, W. C., Grannas, A. M., Kim, S., and Hatcher, P. G. (2006). Direct molecular evidence for the degradation and mobility of black carbon in soils from ultrahigh-resolution mass spectral analysis of dissolved organic matter from a fire-impacted forest soil. Org. Geochem. 37, 501-510. 

Ohlsen, M., and Tryterud, E. (2000). Interpretation fo the charcoal record in forest soils Forest fires and their production and deposition of macroscopic charcoal. Holocene 10, 519-525. 

The places from which pollutants emanate are called sources. There are natural as well as anthropogenic sources of the permanent gases considered to be pollutants. These include plant and animal respiration and the decay of what was once living matter. Volcanoes and naturally caused forest fires are other natural sources. The places to which pollutants disappear from the air are called sinks. Sinks include the soil, vegetation, structures, and water bodies, particularly the oceans. The mechanisms whereby pollutants... 

Biomass Redistribution Associated with Deforestation and Fire. The influence of deforestation on biogeochemical cycles is dependent upon a number of factors associated with the unique characteristics of the ecosystem (climate, soils, topography, etc), the quantity of the total nutrient pool stored in aboveground biomass (Table II), and the level of disturbance (i.e. the degree of canopy removal, soil disturbance, and the quantity of wood or other forest products exported from the site). The quantity of biomass consumed by one or more slash fires following deforestation can also dramatically increase nutrient losses, influence post fire plant succession, and hence, postfire biogeochemical cycles. 

The maximum temperature and duration of heating during fires are important variables that influence the soil nutrient status, as well as the survival of residual vegetation following fire (Table III). Deforestation results in the presence of large quantities of wood debris in close proximity to the soil surface. Fires in this scenario result in soil temperatures and magnitudes of heat flux far in excess of those which occur in fires in uncut forests (Shea, R. W. Oregon State University, unpublished data). 

Soil surface temperature of slash fires in tropical and temperate forests... 

Barnett, D. Fire effects on Coast Range soils of Oregon and Washington and management implications A state-of-knowledge review USDA Forest Service, R-6 Soils Technical Report Portland, OR., 1989, 66 p. 

Agee, J.K. Prescribed fire effects on physical and hydrologfc properties of mixed conifer forest floor and soil Report 143 Univ. of CA, Water Resources Center Davis, CA, 1973. 

DeBano, L.F. Rice, R.M. Conrad, C.E. Soil heating in chaparral fires Effects on soil properties, plant nutrients, erosion, and runoff. Berkeley, Calif. Pac. Southwest For. and Range Exp. Stn., Forest Service, USDA 1979, Res. Pap. PSW-145. 21 p. 

Emergency Preparedness Measures adapted to increased incidents of forest fires, insect infestations and the impacts of soil erosion. 

Natural sources of airborne nickel include soil dust, sea salt, volcanoes, forest fires, and vegetation exudates and account for about 16% of the atmospheric nickel burden (Kasprzak 1987 WHO 1991 Chau and Kulikovsky-Cordeiro 1995). Human sources of atmospheric nickel — which account for about 84% of all atmospheric nickel — include emissions from nickel ore mining, smelting, and refining activities combustion of fossil fuels for heating, power, and motor vehicles ... 

Particulate matter is the term used to describe solid particles and liquid droplets found in the atmosphere. Particulates are produced by a host of natural and anthropogenic sources. Mist and fog are both forms of natural particulates, as are windblown soil, dust, smoke from forest fires, and biological objects, such as bacteria, fungal spores, and pollen. The incomplete combustion of fossil fuels is one of the most important anthropogenic (human-made) sources of particulates. Such processes release unhurned carbon particles, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, and a host of organic compounds into the air. 

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