Multi‐Year Tracing of Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Post‐Fire Aeolian Sediment Transport Using Rare Earth Elements Provide Insights Into Grassland Management

Aeolian sediment transport occurs as a function of, and with feedback to ecosystem changes and disturbances. Many desert grasslands are undergoing rapid changes in vegetation, including the encroachment of woody plants, which alters fire regimes and in turn can change the spatial and temporal patter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Earth surface 2023-11, Vol.128 (11), p.n/a
Main Authors: Burger, William J., Pelt, R. Scott, Grandstaff, David E., Wang, Guan, Sankey, Temuulen T., Li, Junran, Sankey, Joel B., Ravi, Sujith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aeolian processes
Arid lands
Arid zones
Deserts
Distribution
drylands
Encroachment
Environmental changes
Eolian processes
Erosion processes
Fires
Geomorphology
Grassland management
Grasslands
land degradation
Mass flux
Nutrients
Plants (botany)
Prescribed fire
Rare earth elements
Sediment
sediment tracers
Sediment transport
Sediments
shrub encroachment
Soil erosion
Soil investigations
Soil particles
Soil surfaces
Spatial analysis
Spatial distribution
Tracers
Vegetation
Vegetation type
wildfires
Woody plants
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Summary:Aeolian sediment transport occurs as a function of, and with feedback to ecosystem changes and disturbances. Many desert grasslands are undergoing rapid changes in vegetation, including the encroachment of woody plants, which alters fire regimes and in turn can change the spatial and temporal patterns of aeolian sediment transport. We investigated aeolian sediment transport and spatial distribution of sediment in the surface soil for 7 years following a prescribed fire using a multiple rare earth element (REE) tracer‐based approach in a shrub‐encroached desert grassland in the northern Chihuahuan desert. Results indicate that even though the aeolian horizontal sediment mass flux increased approximately three‐fold in the first windy season in the burned areas compared to control areas, there were no significant differences after three windy seasons. The soil surface of bare microsites was the major contributor of aeolian sediments in unburned areas (87%), while the shrub microsites contributed the least (
ISSN:2169-9003
2169-9011
DOI:10.1029/2023JF007274