Cation export by overland flow in a recently burnt forest area in north-central Portugal

Wildfires constitute a diffuse source of contamination to aquatic ecosystems. In burnt hillslopes, ash and sediments transported by overland flow are a source of potentially hazardous substances, like metals, posing a risk for downstream water bodies. In the present study, post-fire metal mobilization by overland flow was evaluated in 16 m2 bounded plots at a eucalypt stand in Albergaria-a-Velha (Aveiro district, North-Central Portugal) that burnt with moderate severity in September 2019. Overland flow samples were collected on a weekly to bi-weekly basis, depending on the occurrence of rain, during the first 6 months after fire. Aside from overland flow samples collected at slope scale, water and sediment samples were also collected in a fire-affected stream within the Albergaria burned catchment, to assess the contamination risk posed by the fire. Samples were collected at three sites along the stream: one upstream, one within and another downstream from the burnt area, after major rainfall events. The metals analysed in this study included, vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). Results showed that most metals exhibited a peak in exports immediately after the first significant post-fire rainfall event likely due to the wash-off of the ash layer and high sediment losses, but for some elements like Zn and Cu, exports were more or less constant over time. The fire seems to have had a low impact on the water quality of the affected stream, since metal concentrations were similar between the three study sites. The quality of stream sediments, on the other hand, was clearly affected by the fire, especially after the rainy season. As fire severity and frequency is forecasted to increase in the near future due to climate changes, the results of this work reinforce the importance of water managers to define adaptative strategies to effectively protect freshwater bodies.

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Short-time phosphorus losses by overland flow in burnt pine and eucalypt plantations in north-central Portugal: A study at micro-plot scale

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.036 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 551-552 ◽

pp. 631-639 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

R.V. Ferreira ◽

D. Serpa ◽

M.A. Cerqueira ◽

J.J. Keizer

Keyword(s):

Overland Flow ◽

North Central ◽

Eucalypt Plantations ◽

Central Portugal ◽

Short Time ◽

Phosphorus Losses

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Mid-term post-fire losses of nitrogen and phosphorus by overland flow in two contrasting eucalypt stands in north-central Portugal

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135843 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 705 ◽

pp. 135843

Author(s):

D. Serpa ◽

R.V. Ferreira ◽

A.I. Machado ◽

M.A. Cerqueira ◽

J.J. Keizer

Keyword(s):

Overland Flow ◽

Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽

North Central ◽

Central Portugal

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Effects of fire occurrence and recurrence on nitrogen and phosphorus losses by overland flow in maritime pine plantations in north-central Portugal

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.11.033 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 289 ◽

pp. 97-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Mohammadreza Hosseini ◽

Violette Geissen ◽

Oscar González-Pelayo ◽

Dalila Serpa ◽

Ana Isabel Machado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Overland Flow ◽

Maritime Pine ◽

Pine Plantations ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽

North Central ◽

Central Portugal ◽

Phosphorus Losses

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Post-fire overland flow generation and inter-rill erosion under simulated rainfall in two eucalypt stands in north-central Portugal

Environmental Research ◽

10.1016/j.envres.2010.09.003 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 111 (2) ◽

pp. 222-236 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

M.C. Malvar ◽

S.A. Prats ◽

J.P. Nunes ◽

J.J. Keizer

Keyword(s):

Overland Flow ◽

Simulated Rainfall ◽

Rill Erosion ◽

North Central ◽

Flow Generation ◽

Central Portugal

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Runoff and inter-rill erosion in a Maritime Pine and a Eucalypt plantation following wildfire and terracing in north-central Portugal

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics ◽

10.2478/johh-2013-0033 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 61 (4) ◽

pp. 261-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Martinho A.S. Martins ◽

Ana I. Machado ◽

Dalila Serpa ◽

Sergio A. Prats ◽

Sílvia R. Faria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Overland Flow ◽

Ground Cover ◽

Maritime Pine ◽

Rill Erosion ◽

Forest Types ◽

Key Factors ◽

Study Region ◽

North Central ◽

Slope Engineering ◽

Central Portugal

Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess how terracing affected overland flow and associated sediment losses, at the micro-plot scale (0.25 m2), in recently burnt stands of the two principal forest types in north-central Portugal, i.e. mono-specific stands of Maritime Pine and Eucalypt. Terracing is an increasingly common practice of slope engineering in the study region but its impacts on runoff and erosion are poorly studied. Non-terraced plots at the Eucalypt and the Pine site revealed similar median runoff coefficients (rc: 20-30%) as well as comparable median sediment losses (15-25 g m-2) during the first seven months following wildfire. During the ensuing, slightly wetter 18-month period, however, non-terraced plots at the Pine site lost noticeably more sediments (in median, 90 vs. 18 g m-2), in spite the runoff response had remained basically the same (median rc: 33 vs. 28%). By contrast, terraced plots at the same Pine site lost hugely more sediments (in median, 1,200 g m-2) during this 18-month period. Terraced plots at the Eucalypt site even lost three times more sediments (in median, 3,600 g m-2). Ground cover and resistance to shear stress seemed to be key factors in the observed/inferred impacts of terracing.

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The role of land management practices in soil erosion hazard in eucalypt stands in north-central Portugal following forest wildfires

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2006.08.306 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 234 ◽

pp. S187

Author(s):

J.J. Keizer ◽

M. Malvar ◽

J. Nunes ◽

J. Silva ◽

C. Coelho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Land Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

North Central ◽

Erosion Hazard ◽

Central Portugal ◽

Forest Wildfires

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The nodular granite of Castanheira, north central Portugal: origin of the nodules and evidence for diapiric mobilization of granite

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s001675680000981x ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 130 (2) ◽

pp. 145-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

R. J. Reavy ◽

D. H. W. Hutton ◽

A. A. Finch

Keyword(s):

Chemical Potential ◽

Structural Data ◽

Vapour Phase ◽

Vapour Bubble ◽

North Central ◽

Host Granite ◽

Low Viscosity ◽

Granite Body ◽

Central Portugal ◽

Strong Depletion

AbstractThe Castanheira pluton in north-central Portugal is a small (1000 m × 600 m) granite body of Hercynian age which contains a remarkable abundance of granite-cored, biotite-rimmed nodules. The nodules are interpreted as representing original bubbles in the uppermost volatile-rich zone of a granitic pluton. Strong depletion in K and Rb in the host granite around the nodules suggests that the biotite is magmatic in origin. The nodules may have formed by reaction between chloroferrate(II) complexes in the vapour phase and silicate melt, possibly followed by condensation of the vapour phase to a small granitic core. Motion of the vapour bubble stabilized a gradient in chemical potential with respect to the host granite, giving rise to the nodules. Chemical, petrological and structural data suggest that the pluton was part of a larger granite body, which was forcefully emplaced during synchronous transcurrent shearing. The inferred presence of volatiles, in addition to the pervasive tourmalinization of the roof zone, suggest that the magma was halogen-rich; this may imply that the magma had low viscosity.

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Testing a novel technique, geotubes with mycotechnosoil, to mitigate post-fire erosion and enhance ecosystem recovery

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20618 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Dalila Serpa ◽

Jan J. Keizer ◽

Ana I. Machado ◽

Martha Santos ◽

Bruna R. F. Oliveira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surface Water Quality ◽

Field Trials ◽

Catchment Scale ◽

Ecosystem Recovery ◽

North Central ◽

Monitoring Period ◽

Soil Burn Severity ◽

The Usa ◽

Central Portugal ◽

Burnt Areas

Recently burnt areas have frequently been documented to produce strong to extreme catchment-scale hydrological and erosion responses to major rainfall events, even if these responses have rarely been quantified. These responses have raised important concerns, both among forest owners and managers on the on-site implications of soil (fertility) loss and among water resources managers for the off-side impacts on downstream values-at-risk such as road and hydraulic infrastructures, flood zones, and surface water quality in reservoirs or at river intake points. State-of-the-art emergency stabilization management, as practiced in the USA and Galicia, aims at reducing the hydrological and erosion response at its main source, i.e. the hillslopes. Based on years and decades of experience and pain-staking field monitoring in both the USA and Galicia, mulching is typically preferred over barrier-based methods, especially for being more effective in the case of high-intensity rainfall storms. Even so, the LIFE-REFOREST consortium (LIFE17 ENV/ES/000248) has developed an innovative barrier-based technique that is designed to be implemented easier and faster than log and shrub barriers and, at the same time, to improve vegetation recovery, using seeds of plant species that establish vegetation strips against runoff and erosion and/or seeds of tree and shrub species for re- or afforestation. The REFOREST barriers consists of geotubes containing, besides seeds, a mycotechnosoil as well as straw. The effectiveness of the LIFE-REFOREST geotubes is current being tested under field conditions in summer-2019 burnt areas in north-central Portugal and Galicia, in contrasting forest types (eucalypt vs. pine) on contrasting parent materials (schist vs. granite). Both field trials involve, besides 3 control plots and 3 plots with geotubes, also 3 plots mulched with either eucalypt logging residues or pine needles. The present poster will show preliminary results of the field trial in north-central Portugal, in a second-rotation eucalypt stand where tree crowns were scorched by the fire and soil burn severity was classified as moderate. These results concern the initial monitoring period till early spring 2020. However, this monitoring period has been quite rainy so far, arguably providing rather ideal conditions for testing the effectiveness of barrier-based solutions such as that of LIFE-REFOREST.

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