SGER: Rapid Response to California Wildfires: Effect of Fire on Delivery of Organic Carbon to the Fluvial System

火引起有机碳的剧烈变化，将有机物质转化为相对惰性的火衍生有机碳，包括木炭。此外，火灾可能会侵蚀植被和土壤覆盖的分水岭，从而导致洪水和侵蚀的严重增加。据估计，河流系统中70%的长期泥沙产生量可能是火灾的结果。此外，被侵蚀的土壤和沉积物通常富含携带有机碳的颗粒。因此，输送到河床系统的有机碳中，有70%可能是火灾的结果。这些特征的结合使火成为向大陆边缘沉积物输送有机碳的重要媒介，它可以作为大气中的长期二氧化碳汇存在于大陆边缘沉积物中。加州中部萨利纳斯河流域的盆地综合体和印第安人大火烧毁了近24万英亩的查帕尔、灌木丛、森林、稀树草原和草原。该项目将解决火在将有机碳从这些易起火的环境输送到河流中的作用。结合萨利纳斯河、蒙特利湾和太平洋正在进行的研究，这项研究将有助于理解火在将有机碳从其陆地来源输送到海洋环境中的汇中所起的作用。该项目将支持一名博士后研究员和一名本科生。博士后研究人员将获得宝贵的经验，开发研究计划，教学和指导本科生，谁将参与现场和实验室工作的方方面面。

Fire causes drastic changes to organic carbon, converting organic materials to relatively inert fire-derived organic carbon, including charcoal. Additionally, fire can denude watersheds of vegetation and soil cover, which causes major increases in flooding and erosion. It has been estimated that 70% of the long-term sediment yield from rivers in chaparral systems may be a result of fire. Further, eroded soils and sediments are usually enriched in particles carrying organic carbon. Therefore, it is possible that 70% of the organic carbon delivered to the fluvial network of chaparral systems is a result of fire. The combination of these characteristics makes fire an important agent in delivering organic carbon to continental margin sediments, where it could reside as a long-term atmospheric CO2 sink. The Basin Complex and Indians fires in the Salinas River drainage basin of central California burned nearly 240,000 acres of chaparral, scrubland, forests, savanna, and grasslands. This project will address the role of fire in the delivery of organic carbon to rivers from these fire-prone environments. Combined with ongoing research in the Salinas River, Monterey Bay, and Pacific Ocean, this research will contribute to the understanding of fire's role in the delivery of organic carbon from its terrestrial source to its sink in the marine environment. This project will support one postdoctoral researcher and one undergraduate student. The postdoctoral researcher will gain valuable experience developing a research program, and teaching and mentoring undergraduate students, who will be involved in all aspects of the field and laboratory work.