Post-Wildfire Investigation: Analysis of Soil Properties Based on Burn Severity
The Las Conchas fire started on June 26, 2011, near the small community of Las Conchas in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico. When the fire was contained on August 3, 2011, it had burned 156,593 acres of mixed conifer, pinyon/juniper and ponderosa forest and at the time was the largest wildfire in New Mexico history. Peak burn severity was extreme; over 60,000 acres of the total burned in the first 2 days.
External Links:
USGS National Research Program (NRP)
Approach
Soil-hydraulic properties examined are field-saturated hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, and saturated volumetric water content.
- Sample sites were randomly selected across the full spectrum (7 classes) of wildfire burn severities. Shallow soil cores were collected from these sites.
- Hydraulic properties of the soil cores were based on tension-infiltrometer measurements in the laboratory. To minimize uncertainty, the measurements were analyzed using three separate methods.
Objectives
- Assess post-wildfire impacts on hydraulic properties of soil as a function of remotely-determined burn severity.
- Possible applications of this work include assessment for water-related hazards and other water-resource management tasks.
The Las Conchas fire started on June 26, 2011, near the small community of Las Conchas in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico. When the fire was contained on August 3, 2011, it had burned 156,593 acres of mixed conifer, pinyon/juniper and ponderosa forest and at the time was the largest wildfire in New Mexico history. Peak burn severity was extreme; over 60,000 acres of the total burned in the first 2 days.
External Links:
USGS National Research Program (NRP)
Approach
Soil-hydraulic properties examined are field-saturated hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, and saturated volumetric water content.
- Sample sites were randomly selected across the full spectrum (7 classes) of wildfire burn severities. Shallow soil cores were collected from these sites.
- Hydraulic properties of the soil cores were based on tension-infiltrometer measurements in the laboratory. To minimize uncertainty, the measurements were analyzed using three separate methods.
Objectives
- Assess post-wildfire impacts on hydraulic properties of soil as a function of remotely-determined burn severity.
- Possible applications of this work include assessment for water-related hazards and other water-resource management tasks.