Research snapshot: Fires can significantly accelerate fine sediment transport and alluvial fans can buffer this impact
In the latest research from the forWater Network, scientists have found that fires in forested source water regions can significantly accelerate fine sediment transport from hillslopes to receiving streams. The mobilization of fine sediment and associated nutrients, such as phosphorus (P), into high quality surface waters can substantially increase primary productivity, which can severely degrade water quality, threaten aquatic ecosystem health, and challenge drinking water treatability to the point of service disruptions.