Erosion and Mass Wasting Processes in Post-Wildfire Mountainous Terrains: Impacts and Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64862/Keywords:
Post-wildfire, Soil and rock degradation, Burn severity, Climate changeAbstract
Post-wildfire mountainous terrains are prone to erosion, debris flows, shallow landslides, and rockfalls, especially with pre-existing instability events. While it remains challenging to directly attribute all landscape changes to fire alone, wildfires clearly initiate chains of geohazards by amplifying the effects of subsequent rainfall. In fractured rock mass, fire-induced thermal stress accelerates macrocrack development and mechanical weakening, reducing slope stability. In the soil or weathered rock zone, the loss of structure and infiltration capacity due to fire enhances runoff-driven erosion. Burn severity, local geology, and fire recurrence play critical roles, with climate change increasing both frequency and magnitude of these hazards. Despite advances in remote sensing and modeling, field validation and understanding of long-term degradation and recovery remain limited, underscoring the key role of engineering geologists in transdisciplinary hazard assessment and post-fire stabilization plans.
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