Long-Term Fire Regime Estimated from Soil Charcoal in Coastal Temperate Rainforests

Lertzman, Ken; Gavin, Daniel G.; Hallett, Douglas J.; Brubaker, Linda B.; Lepofsky, Dana; Mathewes, Rolf W.

doi:10.5751/es-00432-060205

Cited by 70 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Although the youngest age appears older than other records (e.g. Pierce et al 2004;Sanborn et al 2006), late-Holocene fire frequencies at Bear Flat are similar or lower than those inferred at other locations (Long et al 1998;Hallett et al 2003a;Millspaugh et al 2000;Lertzman et al 2002;Hallett and Walker 2000). It is possible that the youngest records have been removed by 20th century agricultural ploughing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…in Yellowstone (Meyer et al 1995;Millspaugh et al 2000), Idaho (Meyer et al 2001), Oregon (Long et al 1998), southwestern BC (Gavin et al 2003b;Hallett et al 2003a;Lertzman et al 2002), and southeastern BC (Hallett and Walker 2000;Hallett et al 2003b). This signal appears less marked in the tropics (Horn and Sanford 1992;Turcq et al 1998) and in other mid-latitude regimes, such as in eastern Canada (Carcaillet et al 2001) and New Zealand (Molloy et al 1963).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The long-term record of forest-fire history has been studied in a number of regions (Meyer et al 1995(Meyer et al , 2001Cwynar 1987;Long et al 1998;Hallett et al 2003a,b;Millspaugh et al 2000;Horn and Sanford 1992;Turcq et al 1998;Lertzman et al 2002;Hallett and Walker 2000;Pierce et al 2004) of the world, but there is little information on fire history in more northerly regions of Canada. There are basically 2 kinds of studies: 1) direct measurement of charcoal found in alluvial and colluvial deposits (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Long et al 1998;Millspaugh et al 2000). In southern British Columbia (BC), there have been several studies (Hallett et al 2003a,b;Lertzman et al 2002) of fire histories in hemlock rainforests of the Fraser Valley, southwestern BC. Hallet and Walker (2000) studied fire from charcoal recovered from a lake in Kootenay National Park (southeastern BC), and Gavin (2003a) has studied fires in west-coast temperate rain forests on Vancouver Island.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are basically 2 kinds of studies: 1) direct measurement of charcoal found in alluvial and colluvial deposits (e.g. Meyer et al 1995Meyer et al , 2001Lertzman et al 2002;Pierce et al 2004); and 2) studies of the charcoal record found in lake sediments (e.g. Long et al 1998;Millspaugh et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Jull

Geertsema²

2006

Radiocarbon

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ABSTRACT. We present results of radiocarbon dating of charcoal from paleosols and buried charcoal horizons in a unique sequence, which potentially records the last 36,000 yr, from a fan at Bear Flat, British Columbia (BC) (56°16′51″N, 121°13′39″W). Evidence for forest-fire charcoal is found over the last 13,500 ± 110 14 C yr before present (BP) or 16,250 ± 700 cal BP. The study area is located east of the Rocky Mountains in an area that was ice-free at least 13,970 ± 170 14 C yr BP (17,150 cal BP) ago. The latest evidence of fire is during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). The charcoal ages show a periodicity in large fires on a millennial scale through the Holocene-an average of 4 fires per thousand years. Higher fire frequencies are observed between 2200 to 2800 cal BP, ~5500 and ~6000 cal BP, ~7500 to 8200 cal BP, and 9000 to 10,000 cal BP. These intervals also appear to be times of above-average aggradation of the fan. We conclude that fire frequency is related to large-scale climatic events on a millennial time scale.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Jull

Geertsema²

2006

Radiocarbon

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Native Americans, Ecosystem Development, and Historical Range of Variation

Nowacki

MacCleery

Lake

2012

Historical Environmental Variation in Conservation and Natural Resource Management

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13,000 years of fire history derived from soil charcoal in a British Columbia coastal temperate rain forest

et al. 2016

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Little is known regarding the fire history of high‐latitude coastal temperate rain forests in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of North America. While reconstructing historical fire regimes typically requires dendrochronological records from fire‐scarred trees or stratigraphically preserved lake sediment data, this type of information is virtually non‐existent in this region. To describe the long‐term fire history of a site on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada, we radiocarbon‐dated 52 pieces of charcoal. Charcoal ages ranged from 12,670 to 70 yr BP. Fires occurred regularly since 12,670 yr BP, with the exception of a distinct fire‐free period at 7500–5500 yr BP. Time since fire (TSF) estimates from soil charcoal and fire‐scarred trees ranged from 12,670 to 100 yr BP (median = 327 yr), and 70% of the sites examined had burned within the past 1000 yr. An increase in fire frequency in the late Holocene is consistent with the widely held hypothesis that anthropogenic fires were common across the PNW. We evaluate TSF distributions and discuss the difficulties in assigning actual fire dates from charcoal fragments with large inbuilt ages in a coastal temperate rain forest setting. We determine that a comprehensive approach using soil charcoal and fire scar analyses is necessary to reconstruct general trends in fire activity throughout the Holocene in this region.

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Long-Term Fire Regime Estimated from Soil Charcoal in Coastal Temperate Rainforests

Cited by 70 publications

References 31 publications

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Native Americans, Ecosystem Development, and Historical Range of Variation

13,000 years of fire history derived from soil charcoal in a British Columbia coastal temperate rain forest

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