A Review of Occurrence and Causes for Wildfires and their Impacts on the Geoenvironment

Arvin Farid; Md Khorshed Alam; Venkata Siva Naga Sai Goli; Idil Deniz Akin; Taiwo Akinleye; Xiaohui Chen; Qing Cheng; Peter Cleall; Sabatino Cuomo; Vito Foresta; Shangqi Ge; Luca Iervolino; Pierrette Iradukunda; F Charles H. Luce; Eugeniusz Koda; Slobodan B. Mickovski; Brendan C. O’Kelly; Evan K. Paleologos; Dario Peduto; Evan John Ricketts; Mojtaba Sadegh; Theo S. Sarris; Devendra N. Singh; Prithvendra Singh; Chao-Sheng Tang; Guillermo Tardio; Magdalena Daria Vaverková; Max Veneris; Jan Winkler

doi:10.20944/preprints202407.0086.v1

Preprint Review Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 29 June 2024 / Approved: 1 July 2024 / Online: 1 July 2024 (11:46:12 CEST)

Wildfires have short- and long-term impacts on the geoenvironment, including the changes to biogeochemical and mechanical properties of soils, landfill stability, surface- and groundwater, air pollution, and vegetation. Climate change has increased the extent and severity of wildfires across the world. Simultaneously, anthropogenic activities—through the expansion of urban areas into wildlands, abandonment of rural practices, and accidental or intentional fire-inception activities—are also responsible for a majority of fires. This paper provides an overall review and critical appraisal of existing knowledge about processes induced by wildfires and their impact on the geoenvironment. Burning of vegetation leads to loss of root reinforcement and changes in soil hydromechanical properties. Also, depending on the fire temperature, soil can be rendered hydrophobic or hydrophilic and compromise soil nutrition levels, hinder revegetation, and, in turn, increase post-fire erosion and debris flow susceptibility of hillslopes. In addition to direct hazards, wildfires pollute air and soil with smoke and fire suppression agents releasing toxic, persistent, and relatively mobile contaminants into the geoenvironment. Nevertheless, the mitigation of wildfires’ geoenvironmental impacts does not fit within the scope of this paper. In the end, in no exhaustive way, some areas of future need for research are highlighted.

wildfires; geoenvironment; climate change; hazards; soils & groundwater conditions

Engineering, Civil Engineering

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A Review of Occurrence and Causes for Wildfires and their Impacts on the Geoenvironment

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