Changes in hydrology, sediment loss and microtopography of a vegetated mine waste rock dump impacted by fire
✍ Scribed by K. G. Evans; M. J. Saynor; G. R. Willgoose
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 554 KB
- Volume
- 10
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1085-3278
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Dry season burning to control wild®re is conducted in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. The ERA Ranger Mine is adjacent to the park, and it is likely that at some stage the post-mining landform will be aected by ®re. Rainfall simulations were conducted on a vegetated site on the mine waste rock dump. The site was then burnt and the rainfall simulation series repeated. Initially, there was little dierence between sediment loss and runo from the vegetated condition and sediment loss and runo from the burnt condition. As simulations continued, total sediment loss from the burnt condition increased as a result of increasing runo compared to the vegetated condition. Burning of vegetation aected the surface hydrology of the site, resulting in increased erosion under saturating rainfall similar to rainfall expected at the commencement of a wet season. Litter dams formed during runo from the burnt condition providing areas of localized deposition. The distribution of the dams was non-random. If ®re is used as a management tool to control wild®re, placement of arti®cial microdams on steep slopes may provide areas of sediment deposition and seedbank storage to reduce the eects of elevated runo and sediment loss and facilitate vegetation regeneration.