The Role Of Fire On Soil Mounds And Surface Roughness In The Mojave Desert
Soulard CE, Esque TC, Bedford DR, Bond S. 2013. The Role Of Fire On Soil Mounds And Surface Roughness In The Mojave Desert. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 38(2):111-121
To assess the effects of fire on surface topography, soil roughness, and vegetation, we used terrestrial (ground-based) LiDAR to quantify the differences between burned and unburned surfaces by creating a series of high-resolution vegetation structure and bare-earth surface models for six sample plots in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona. We find that 11 years following prescribed burns, mound volumes, plant heights, and soil-surface roughness were significantly lower on burned relative to unburned plots. Results also suggest a linkage between vegetation and soil mounds, either through accretion or erosion mechanisms such as wind and/or water erosion.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Soulard, Christopher; Esque, Todd; Bedford, David; Bond, Sandra
- Units
- PARA
- Keywords
- Fire, Mojave Desert, Parashant, Soil