Fraser Island Fire on Kgari in 2020 which burned over 50% of the island. Credit: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
A previously unrecognized sedimentary archive in dune has the possible to unlock a repository of fire records, an advancement that might widen our understanding of fire histories worldwide.
Dr. Nicholas Patton, throughout his Ph.D. at The University of Queensland, performed a study that fixed a consistent issue dealing with historians examining altering fire patterns.
” Knowing how the frequency and intensity of wildfires have actually altered gradually provides researchers a peek into Earths past landscapes, as well as an understanding of future climate change impacts,” Dr. Patton stated. “To rebuild fire records, researchers normally rely heavily on sediment records from lake beds, but this implies that fire histories from dryland regions are frequently neglected.” Weve now shown that sand dunes can function as repositories of fire history and help in expanding scientific understanding of fire regimes around the world.”
Weve now shown that sand dunes can serve as repositories of fire history and aid in expanding clinical understanding of fire routines around the world.”
The study is the very first to methodically analyze sedimentary records protected in foot-slope deposits of dune– particularly, four sand dunes at the Cooloola Sand Mass in Queensland, taking a look at approximately 12,000 years of history.
The scientists aimed to prove that these dune deposits might be used to reconstruct reputable, multi-millennial fire histories.
” The Cooloola Sand Mass includes big sand dunes that were created off the coast and moved inland from the power of the wind,” Dr Patton stated. “We were digging soil pits at the base of the dunes and were seeing a lot of charcoal– more charcoal than we anticipated. And we thought maybe we might utilize these deposits to reconstruct regional fires within the area.”
Diagram of sedimentary records preserved in foot-slope deposits at the base of sand dunes. Credit: Dr. Nicholas Patton
They were correct and were pleased to see that their dune-based fire history findings effectively matched other fire records from the area found in lake and overload deposits.
” We found that on the more youthful dunes– at 500 years old and 2,000 years of ages– charcoal layers represented specific fires due to the fact that the high slope of the dunes quickly buried each layer,” Dr Patton said.
” However, the older dunes– at 5,000 years old and 10,000 years of ages– had more gradual slopes that mixed charcoal from different fires with time, offering a better understanding of durations of increased or decreased fire frequency.”
The dunes provided localized fire histories from within an approximate 100-meter radius, so fire records varied somewhat amongst the 4 dunes, which spanned around 2 kilometers.
” Similar records are most likely held in dune around the world, and regions like California and the Southwest U.S. might benefit from a better understanding of local fire history,” Dr Patton said.
” Embedded within the fire records is not just info about natural wildfires however likewise the manner in which human beings affected fire regimes.
” Fire histories are important for comprehending how fire was utilized in the past for cultural functions, whether that was to clear fields for farming or for hunting.
” These records have the prospective to open the function environment and/or Indigenous peoples had on the landscape from regions where they are unusual or missing.
” It would be exciting to see this work extended into the Kimberley and the dune locations along the northern Australian coast where people have lived for tens of thousands of years.”
Recommendation: “Reconstructing Holocene fire records using dune footslope deposits at the Cooloola Sand Mass, Australia” by Nicholas R. Patton, James Shulmeister, Quan Hua, Peter Almond, Tammy M. Rittenour, Johanna M. Hanson, Aloysius Grealy, Jack Gilroy and Daniel Ellerton, 11 May 2023, Quaternary Research.DOI: 10.1017/ qua.2023.14.
The research was carried out in between UQ, The University of Canterbury, and the Desert Research Institute.
” The Cooloola Sand Mass consists of big sand dunes that were created off the coast and moved inland from the power of the wind,” Dr Patton stated. “We were digging soil pits at the base of the dunes and were seeing a lot of charcoal– more charcoal than we expected. And we thought maybe we could utilize these deposits to rebuild local fires within the location.”