John Holmes
A new source of fire records, hidden in the sands, gives us a bigger picture of the risks https://theconversation.com/a-new-source-of-fire-records-hidden-in-the-sands-gives-us-a-bigger-picture-of-the-risks-205558
A new source of fire records, hidden in the sands, gives us a bigger picture of the risks

Until now, a limitation of records of past fires is that these have come from sediments laid down in lakes and bogs. Records for dryland regions have been lacking, but dune deposits can fill the gap.

The Conversation
May 13, 2023 at 12:05amWeb
Show threadMikPetterMay 13, 2023
@jhaue from the article Charcoal deposited on the dune surface by past fires collects in sediment layers at the base of the dune. Patton et al 2023/Quaternary Research. “.. newly published research focuses on four well-dated sand dunes. Unlike previous studies that extracted fire histories from sediment cores from lakes, bogs and other organic sediments, we extracted fire records from these dunes. We believe this is a breakthrough that will greatly expand the areas for which we can extract fire histories….
For the first 1,000 years after the dunes stabilised, frequent but minor flows of sand grains down the front face of the dune slowly built up sediments at the foot of the dune. The sand deposited at the base includes the remnants of charcoal from local fires that deposited on the dune’s surface. This sediment builds up over time, preserving layers of charcoal from fires..”
#fire #CarbonDating #FireHistory #Holocene