Due to fortuitous circumstance, we were able to make pre- and post-burn measurements of nutrient contents and fluxes before and after a wildfire at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, including losses from the site due to post-fire erosion. The fire caused large losses of N from foliage, litter and soil, as expected. Post-fire erosion also caused large losses of P, S, K, Ca, and Mg from the forest floor. Aside from increases in soil sulfate, had little effect on soil pools of these nutrients. Increases in S and N leaching were also noted after the fire, but the total losses by leaching were much smaller than that by volatilization and erosion.
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See more of S07 Forest, Range & Wildland Soils
See more of The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 6-10, 2005)