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Changes in Sediment Sources Following Wildfire in Mountainous Terrain: A Paired-Catchment Approach, British Columbia, Canada

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The Interactions Between Sediments and Water

Abstract

This paper describes a study examining the potential of mineral magnetic, geochemical and organic properties to determine if a 2003 wildfire in a catchment in British Columbia, Canada, caused a change in the sources of the suspended sediment transported in the channel relative to a nearby unburnt (reference) catchment. The results show that some of the properties offer the potential to determine sediment sources in the unburnt catchment. However, the 2003 wildfire modified the concentrations of some properties and this can either compromise or enhance their ability as tracers in the burnt catchment. At present, the source tracing results are inconclusive. This has implications for the use of certain properties as fingerprints and raises important issues about approaches to sediment source identification.

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© 2006 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.

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Owens, P.N., Blake, W.H., Petticrew, E.L. (2006). Changes in Sediment Sources Following Wildfire in Mountainous Terrain: A Paired-Catchment Approach, British Columbia, Canada. In: Kronvang, B., Faganeli, J., Ogrinc, N. (eds) The Interactions Between Sediments and Water. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5478-5_28

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