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Abstract Landscapes following wildfire commonly have significant increases in sediment yield and debris flows that pose major hazards and are difficult to predict. Ultimately, post-wildfire sediment yield is governed by processes that deliver sediment from hillslopes to channels, but it is commonly unclear the degree to which hillslope sediment delivery is driven by wet versus dry processes, which limits the ability to predict debris-flow occurrence and response to climate change. Here we use repeat airborne lidar topography to track sediment movement following the 2009 CE Station Fire in southern California, USA, and show that post-wildfire debris flows initiated in channels filled by dry sediment transport, rather than on hillsides during rainfall as typically assumed. We found widespread patterns of 1–3 m of dry sediment loading in headwater channels immediately following wildfire and before rainfall, followed by sediment excavation during subsequent storms. In catchments where post-wildfire dry sediment loading was absent, possibly due to differences in lithology, channel scour during storms did not occur. Our results support a fire-flood model in bedrock landscapes whereby debris-flow occurrence depends on dry sediment loading rather than hillslope-runoff erosion, shallow landslides, or burn severity, indicating that sediment supply can limit debris-flow occurrence in bedrock landscapes with more-frequent fires.
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Hydrogeomorphic response of steep streams following severe wildfire in the Western cascades, Oregon
Severe wildfire may alter steep mountain streams by increasing peak discharges, elevating sediment and wood inputs into channels, and increasing susceptibility to landslides and debris flows. In the Pacific Northwest, where mean annual precipitation is high and mean fire‐return intervals range from decades to centuries, understanding of steep stream response to fire is limited. We evaluate the hydrologic and geomorphic response of ~100‐m‐long steep stream reaches to the large‐scale and severe 2020 fires in the Western Cascade Range, Oregon. In the two runoff seasons after the fires, peak flows in burned reaches were below the 2‐year recurrence interval flood, a level sufficient to mobilize the median grain size of bed material, but not large enough to mobilize coarser material and reorganize channel morphology. Sediment inputs to study streams consisted of two road‐fill failure landslides, slumps, sheetwash, and minor bank erosion; precipitation thresholds to trigger debris flows were not exceeded in our sites. There was a 50% increase in the number of large wood pieces in burned reaches after the fires. Changes in fluxes of water, sediment, and wood induced shifts in the balance of sediment supply to transport capacity, initiating a sequence of sediment aggradation and bed‐material fining followed by erosion and bed‐material coarsening. Gross channel form showed resilience to change, and an unburned reference reach exhibited little morphologic change. Post‐fire recruitment of large wood will likely have long‐term implications for channel morphology and habitat heterogeneity. Below‐average precipitation during the study period, combined with an absence of extreme precipitation events, was an important control on channel responses. Climate change may have a complex effect on stream response to wildfire by increasing the propensity for both drought and extreme rain events and by altering vegetation recovery patterns.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2025755
- PAR ID:
- 10554089
- Publisher / Repository:
- Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
- ISSN:
- 0197-9337
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5982
