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Quantifying the source area of macroscopic charcoal with a particle dispersal model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Matthew Edward Peters  and
Philip Edward Higuera
Matthew Edward Peters
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1360, USA
Philip Edward Higuera*
Affiliation:
College of Forest Resources, Box 352100, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1360, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:philip.higuera@montana.edu (P.E. Higuera).
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Abstract

To aid interpreting the source area of charcoal in lake-sediment records, we compare charcoal deposition from an experimental fire to predictions from a particle dispersal model. This provides both a theoretical framework for understanding how lake sediments reflect fire history and a foundation for simulating sediment-charcoal records. The dispersal model captures the two-dimensional patterns in the empirical data (predicted vs. observed r2 = 0.67, p < 0.001). We further develop the model to calculate the potential charcoal source area (PCSA) for several classes of fires. Results suggest that (1) variations in airborne charcoal deposition can be explained largely by the size of PCSAs relative to fire sizes and (2) macroscopic charcoal travels many kilometers, longer than suggested by dispersal data from experimental fires but consistent with dispersal data from uncontrolled fires.

Keywords

Charcoal analysisCharcoal dispersalCharcoal source areaDispersal modelExperimental burnFire history
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , March 2007 , pp. 304 - 310
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1 Current address: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
2 Current address: Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.

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