Burn effects on soil properties associated to heat transfer under contrasting moisture content

Badía, David (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; López-García, Sergio ; Martí, Clara (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Ortiz-Perpiñá, Oriol (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Girona-Garcia, Antonio (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Casanova-Gascón, José (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: The aim of this work is to investigate the topsoil thickness affected by burning under contrasting soil moisture content (field capacity versus air-dried conditions). A mollic horizon of an Aleppo pine forest was sampled and burned in the laboratory, recording the temperature continuously at the topsoil surface and at soil depths of 1, 2, and 3 cm. Changes in soil properties were measured at 0–1, 1–2, 2–3, and 3–4 cm. Both the maximum temperature and the charring intensities were significantly lower in wet soils than in airdried soils up to 3 cm in depth. Moreover, soil heating was slower and cooling faster in wet soils as compared to dry soils. Therefore, the heat capacity increase of the soil moistened at field capacity plays a more important role than the thermal conductivity increase on heat transfer on burned soils. Burning did not significantly modify the pH, the carbonate content and the chroma, for either wet or dry soil. Fire caused an immediate and significant decrease in water repellency in the air-dried soil, even at 3 cm depth, whereas the wet soil remained hydrophilic throughout its thickness, without being affected by burning. Burning depleted 50% of the soil organic C (OC) content in the air-dried soil and 25% in the wet soil at the upper centimeter, which was blackened. Burning signifi-cantly decreased the total N (TN) content only in the dry soil (to one-third of the original value) through the first centimeter of soil depth. Soluble ions, measured by electrical conductivity (EC), increased after burning, although
only significantly in the first centimeter of air-dried soils. Below 2 cm, burning had no significant effects on the
brightness, OC, TN, or EC, for either wet or dry soil.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.254

Año: 2017

Publicado en: SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 601-602 (2017), 1119–1128
ISSN: 0048-9697

Factor impacto JCR: 4.61 (2017)

Categ. JCR: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES rank: 27 / 241 = 0.112 (2017) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.546 - Environmental Chemistry (Q1) - Waste Management and Disposal (Q1) - Pollution (Q1) - Environmental Engineering (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/CGL2016-76620-R

Tipo y forma: Article (PostPrint)

Área (Departamento): Área Producción Vegetal (Dpto. CC.Agrar.y Medio Natural)
Área (Departamento): Área Edafología y Quím.Agríco. (Dpto. CC.Agrar.y Medio Natural)