Longitudinal propagation of aquatic disturbances following the largest wildfire recorded in New Mexico, USA.

ABSTRACT: Wildfire disturbance propagation along fluvial networks remains poorly understood. We use incident, atmospheric, and water-quality data from the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history to quantify how this gigafire affected surface runoff processes and mobilized wildfire disturbances into fluvial networks after burning 1382 km². Surface runoff post-fire increased compared to pre-fire conditions, and precipitation events that are frequently observed in the affected watershed (<2-year recurrence) and fell during the post-fire first rainy season resulted in uncorrelated, less frequently observed runoff events (10-year recurrence). Besides these shifts in runoff generation, the magnitude and fluctuation of daily water quality parameters and relevant ecosystem processes also shifted

SUBMITTER: Nichols J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11336131 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature