skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Kim, Caitlin"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. This paper investigates the use of environmentally friendly remediation materials and techniques for rain-induced post-wildfire soil erosion on burned slopes. During wildfires, vegetation and organic matter combust and release hydrophobic chemicals on soil grains. Hydrophobicity reduces the water infiltration rate, prolongs the wetting process, increases erosion, and causes severe debris flows over watersheds. This comparative study presents the most effective approaches for mitigating hydrophobicity effects through environmentally friendly biopolymers and surfactants. Experimental techniques evaluate the dynamics of water drop penetration into treated and untreated soil, downhill water drop mobility, and erosion. The waterdrop contact angle measurements indicate that biopolymer Xanthan Gum (XG) slightly reduces hydrophobicity, whereas surfactant Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) reduces it by a factor of a thousand. In addition, SCI can decrease slope erosion at low-inclined and moderate-inclined slopes. Sands' infiltration rates (IR) are very fast due to high permeability in normal conditions; however, surface hydrophobicity significantly reduces IR. Results from artificially treated extremely water-repellent samples of mixed sand show a six orders of magnitude decrease in IR. Then, after treatments XG and SCI modifiers, the IR increased by an order of magnitude after the XG treatments, and by four orders of magnitude under SCI treatment. Although XG is wettable and attractive to water, the crust and webs it forms between sand particles prevent effective water infiltration. Mild slopes exhibit similar IR rates as horizontal surfaces for all the cases; however, steeper slopes reduce IR for treated hydrophobic soils because they allow for downhill motion of water that is faster relative to the infiltration speed. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 13, 2026