Experimental Determination of Effect of Bushfire on Erosion Development in Different Soil Types

Abstract Tropical forests are increasingly exposed to devastating bushfires leading to increased erosion. This work involve the study of effect of bushfire on erosion development. Four different soil samples from the study area were used for the study. In this study, the post-fire impacts of laboratory fire representing bushfire and subsequent rainfall simulation experiment representing postfire rainfall to evaluate short-term impact of fire on bare soil. The laboratory observations show that bushfire or wildfire affects the erodibility of different types of soil. When the soil under consideration contains meaningful amount of clay, initial exposure to heat tend to cement the soil sample, because clay minerals hardens on exposure to bush burning. However, it is generally observed that at 6 hours exposure to burning, the cementation is adversely affected leading to increased soil loss.