Finding 9
Smoke
is mostly made
of particles including larger,
but
light burned organic matter as
well
as small mineral particles. As
the upper
soil burns, some soil particles
disaggregate into smaller fractions. Winds
at the soil surface in hot fires
can reach over
100 mph, easily picking up such
particles. The satellite
photos of the plume extending more than 50 miles across
and some days and nearly
to Hawaii are suggestive of significant particle movement.
Oregon
Nevada
California
The Biscuit Fire
Wind-driven
erosion was large?
The
mineral components of missing soil can be considered as eroded, unlike most of the organic components combusted in the fire. Mechanisms for this erosion include water transport (there’s little evidence of long-distance transport), soil infilling, and aolian or wind transport during or after the
fire. Many decaying stumps, roots, and logs combusted leaving deep holes in the ground. Short-distance transport would likely fill these holes. Our
sampling did not
indicate this process was
important
across the entire stands (but
our sampling was not designed to
test
for this). The most probable
mechanism we have
surmised
is fire-driven
winds.
Initial Findings
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