Journal article
Quantifying sources of fine sediment supplied to post-fire debris flows using fallout radionuclide tracers
HG Smith, GJ Sheridan, P Nyman, DP Child, PNJ Lane, MAC Hotchkis, GE Jacobsen
Geomorphology | Published : 2012
Abstract
Fine sediment supply has been identified as an important factor contributing to the initiation of runoff-generated debris flows after fire. However, despite the significance of fines for post-fire debris flow generation, no investigations have sought to quantify sources of this material in debris flow affected catchments. In this study, we employ fallout radionuclides ( 137Cs, 210Pb ex and 239,240Pu) as tracers to measure proportional contributions of fine sediment (<10μm) from hillslope surface and channel bank sources to levee and terminal fan deposits formed by post-fire debris flows in two forest catchments in southeastern Australia. While 137Cs and 210Pb ex have been widely used in sedi..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This project was supported by a University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant (2010) awarded to the first author and Melbourne Water. An Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Award (ALNGRA10094P), also held by the first author, provided funding for AMS analysis. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Gabrielle Josling for field support, Gabi Szegedy for sample preparation, and Chris Leslie from the CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratory for gamma spectrometry analysis. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped improve the manuscript.