Combustion completeness and sample location determine wildfire ash leachate chemistry

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dc.contributor.authorCampbell, Men_AU
dc.contributor.authorTreble, PCen_AU
dc.contributor.authorMcDonough, LKen_AU
dc.contributor.authorNaeher, Sen_AU
dc.contributor.authorBaker, AAen_AU
dc.contributor.authorGrierson, PFen_AU
dc.contributor.authorWong, HKYen_AU
dc.contributor.authorAndersen, MSen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-06T01:41:36Zen_AU
dc.date.available2024-09-06T01:41:36Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2024-05-21en_AU
dc.date.statistics2024-09en_AU
dc.description.abstractUnderstanding past fire regimes and how they vary with climate, human activity, and vegetation patterns is fundamental to the mitigation and management of changing fire regimes as anthropogenic climate change progresses. Ash‐derived trace elements and pyrogenic biomarkers from speleothems have recently been shown to record past fire activity in speleothems from both Australia and North America. This calls for an empirical study of ash geochemistry to aid the interpretation of speleothem palaeofire proxy records. Here we present analyses of leached ashes collected following fires in southwest and southeast Australia. We include a suite of inorganic elemental data from the water‐soluble fraction of ash as well as a selection of organic analytes (pyrogenic lipid biomarkers). We also present elemental data from leachates of soils collected from sites in southwest Australia. We demonstrate that the water‐soluble fraction of ash differs from the water‐soluble fraction of soils, with trace and minor element concentrations in ash leachates varying with combustion completeness (burn severity) and sample location. Changes in some lipid biomarker concentrations extracted from ashes may reflect burn severity. Our results contribute to building a process‐based understanding of how speleothem geochemistry may record fire frequency and severity, and suggest that more research is needed to understand the transport pathways for the inclusion of pyrogenic biomarkers in speleothems. Our results also demonstrate that potential contaminant loads from ashes are much higher than from soils, with implications for the management of karst catchments, which are a critical water resource. © 2024 The Author(s). Geochemistry,Geophysics, Geosystems published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use,distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citeden_AU
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council (project number DP200100203). MC was also supported by an Early Career Research Grant from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering. We thank Yanchep National Parks staff, Calgardup Caves staff, the Kempsey Speleological Society, and Lachie MacCaw for assistance with sample collection. Thanks to Brett Rowling and Chris Vardanega at ANSTO ITNS for analyses of ash leachates. Thanks to Eve Slavich from UNSW Stats Central for statistical advice, and to Morgan Williams for productive conversation on the analysis of compositional data. We also thank Cameron Ritchie for helpful pointers on the geology of southwest WA and Tim Payne for discussion of leachate chemistry. Thank you to the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments, and to Dr. Branwen Williams for handling the manuscript. We respectfully acknowledge the Whadjuk Noongar, Wadandi Noongar, and Dunghutti peoples as the traditional and spiritual custodians of the Yanchep (on Whadjuk Noongar boodja), Margaret River (on Wadandi boodja), and Macleay regions (on Dunghutti lands), where samples were collected for this research. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley - University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.en_AU
dc.identifier.articlenumbere2024GC011470en_AU
dc.identifier.citationCampbell, M., Treble, P. C., McDonough, L. K., Naeher, S., Baker, A., Grierson, P. F., Wong, H., & Andersen, M. S. (2024). Combustion completeness and sample location determine wildfire ash leachate chemistry. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25(5), e2024GC011470. doi:10.1029/2024GC011470en_AU
dc.identifier.issn1525-2027en_AU
dc.identifier.issue5en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleGeochemistry Geophysics Geosystemsen_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024gc011470en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://apo.ansto.gov.au/handle/10238/15674en_AU
dc.identifier.volume25en_AU
dc.languageEnglishen_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Unionen_AU
dc.subjectFiresen_AU
dc.subjectLeachatesen_AU
dc.subjectChemistryen_AU
dc.subjectClimatic changeen_AU
dc.subjectAustraliaen_AU
dc.subjectAsh contenten_AU
dc.subjectGeochemistryen_AU
dc.subjectSoilsen_AU
dc.subjectNatural disastersen_AU
dc.subjectCavesen_AU
dc.subjectRain Wateren_AU
dc.titleCombustion completeness and sample location determine wildfire ash leachate chemistryen_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
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