Next Article in Journal
Wildfire Hazard and Landscape Connectivity Assessment in the Serra da Cabreira Mountain, Portugal
Previous Article in Journal
Modelling the Effects of Fuel Management Strategies on Fire Risk in a Mediterranean Coastal Area: The Case Study of Porto Conte Regional Natural Park (Italy)
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Environmental Sciences Proceedings
Volume 17
Issue 1
10.3390/environsciproc2022017057
environsciproc-logo
Submit to this Journal
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles thumb_up
...
Endorse textsms
...
Comment
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Abstract

Clues of Frequent Post-Fire Erosion Responses in the Campania Region (Southern Italy) †

by
Giuseppe Esposito
1,*,
Rocco Masi
2,
Stefano Alfano
3,
Gaetano Giannatiempo
3,
Rosa D’Eliseo
3 and
Filiberto Russo
4
1
National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (CNR-IRPI), 06128 Perugia, Italy
2
CIMA Research Foundation, 17100 Savona, Italy
3
Italian Fire Department, The Vigili del Fuoco, 84133 Salerno, Italy
4
Italian Fire Department, The Vigili del Fuoco, 75100 Matera, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk, Sardinia, Italy, 3–6 May 2022.
Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17(1), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017057
Published: 10 August 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk)
Versions Notes

Impacts of wildfires on mountainous landscapes include modifications to hydraulic and geotechnical properties of soils [1,2]. These changes may influence both hydrologic and sedimentologic response of burned watersheds to intense rainfall, increasing the likelihood of overland flow and soil erosion than in areas that are unburned [3]. Enhanced rainfall-induced runoff and sediment transport can lead to relevant landscape degradation, as well as to the triggering of rapid debris and sediment-laden flows [4,5] which may represent a substantial hazard for people and infrastructures located downstream [6].
Post-fire erosion responses have been documented in different areas worldwide, including the Mediterranean basin [7]. Here, most of fires occur during hot and dry summers, whereas post-fire processes are triggered by intense precipitations concentrated in the late summer-autumn period, when severe convective storms are also frequent. Favourable conditions for the ignition and propagation of wildfires are expected to increase as consequence of the ongoing climate change, along with the frequency and intensity of rainstorm events [8]. This scenario suggests a consequent increasing of post-fire erosion processes and related impacts on natural and anthropogenic environments over the course of the century.
Such situation requires more efforts to the scientific community to improve the existing knowledge about initiation and evolution mechanisms of post-fire erosion and flow processes, as well as to provide effective tools aimed at assessing risk conditions in threatened urban settlements. In the light of this, the current contribution presents preliminary results of a historical research aimed at documenting the temporal frequency of post-fire erosion responses in a central area of the Campania region (Southern Italy), where the fire regime along with geologic, geomorphic and climatic conditions make mountainous areas prone to such processes [9,10]. The collected data will be useful for further hazard analyses and risk management in the study area.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, G.E.; methodology, G.E. and R.M.; data curation, G.E., R.M., S.A., G.G., R.D. and F.R.; writing—original draft preparation, G.E. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Shakesby, R.A.; Doerr, S.H. Wildfire as a Hydrological and Geomorphological Agent. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2006, 74, 269–307. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  2. Santi, P.; Cannon, S.; DeGraff, J. Wildfire and Landscape Change. Treatise Geomorphol. 2013, 13, 262–287. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  3. Moody, J.A.; Shakesby, R.A.; Robichaud, P.R.; Cannon, S.H.; Martin, D.A. Current Research Issues Related to Post-Wildfire Runoff and Erosion Processes. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2013, 122, 10–37. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  4. Cannon, S.H.; Gartner, J.E.; Parrett, C.; Parise, M. Wildfire-Related Debris-Flow Generation through Episodic Progressive Sediment-Bulking Processes, Western USA. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation: Mechanics, Prediction, and Assessment, Davos, Switzerland, 10–12 September 2003; pp. 71–82. [Google Scholar]
  5. Tillery, A.C.; Rengers, F.K. Controls on Debris-flow Initiation on Burned and Unburned Hillslopes during an Exceptional Rainstorm in Southern New Mexico, USA. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 2020, 45, 1051–1066. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  6. Thomas, M.A.; Rengers, F.K.; Kean, J.W.; McGuire, L.A.; Staley, D.M.; Barnhart, K.R.; Ebel, B.A. Postwildfire Soil-Hydraulic Recovery and the Persistence of Debris Flow Hazards. JGR Earth Surf. 2021, 126. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Shakesby, R.A. Post-Wildfire Soil Erosion in the Mediterranean: Review and Future Research Directions. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2011, 105, 71–100. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  8. Morán-Ordóñez, A.; Duane, A.; Gil-Tena, A.; de Cáceres, M.; Aquilué, N.; Guerra, C.A.; Geijzendorffer, I.R.; Fortin, M.; Brotons, L. Future Impact of Climate Extremes in the Mediterranean: Soil Erosion Projections When Fire and Extreme Rainfall Meet. Land Degrad. Dev. 2020, 31, 3040–3054. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  9. Esposito, G.; Parodi, A.; Lagasio, M.; Masi, R.; Nanni, G.; Russo, F.; Alfano, S.; Giannatiempo, G. Characterizing Consecutive Flooding Events after the 2017 Mt. Salto Wildfires (Southern Italy): Hazard and Emergency Management Implications. Water 2019, 11, 2663. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  10. Esposito, G.; Matano, F.; Molisso, F.; Ruoppolo, G.; di Benedetto, A.; Sacchi, M. Post-Fire Erosion Response in a Watershed Mantled by Volcaniclastic Deposits, Sarno Mountains, Southern Italy. Catena 2017, 152, 227–241. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Esposito, G.; Masi, R.; Alfano, S.; Giannatiempo, G.; D’Eliseo, R.; Russo, F. Clues of Frequent Post-Fire Erosion Responses in the Campania Region (Southern Italy). Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17, 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017057

AMA Style

Esposito G, Masi R, Alfano S, Giannatiempo G, D’Eliseo R, Russo F. Clues of Frequent Post-Fire Erosion Responses in the Campania Region (Southern Italy). Environmental Sciences Proceedings. 2022; 17(1):57. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017057

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esposito, Giuseppe, Rocco Masi, Stefano Alfano, Gaetano Giannatiempo, Rosa D’Eliseo, and Filiberto Russo. 2022. "Clues of Frequent Post-Fire Erosion Responses in the Campania Region (Southern Italy)" Environmental Sciences Proceedings 17, no. 1: 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017057

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop