A 750-year fire history based on lake sediment records in central Yellowstone National Park, USA

Abstract

A 750-year fire history was reconstructed for the Central Plateau of Yellowstone National Park from the deep-water sediments of five lakes. The charcoal record from a large lake provided a chronology of regional fires. Data from four small lakes were used to study local and extralocal fires. The co-occurrence of abundant charcoal and high magnetic-susceptibility values at the same stratigraphic level was used as evidence of a local catchment fire, and a charcoal peak without high magnetic susceptibility was ascribed to an extralocal fire or a local fire without a related erosion event. The fire history was compared with the dendrochronologic fire record for the last 450 years, and the close agreement provided the justification to extend the chronology back in time. Large areas of the region burned in AD 1988, c. 1700, c. 1560, and c. 1440. From c. 1220 to 1440 and c. 1700 to 1987, intermediate to small areas burned. The near-absence of fires in the twentieth century prior to the large fires of 1988 is evident in the charcoal record.

A continuous record of fire covering the last 10,500 calendar years from southern Sweden — The role of climate and human activities

“…Blackford (2000) found that particles b20 μm were most reliable as indicators of regional background charcoal, while particles N125 μm were representative of local fires. Millspaugh and Whitlock (1995), Clark et al (1998), and Froyd (2006) suggested that particles N120-125 μm were the most useful to reconstruct fire events. Tinner et al (1998) and Duffin et al (2008) recommended using charcoal N50 μm to reconstruct local fire history.…”

Are great Cascadia earthquakes recorded in the sedimentary records from small forearc lakes?

“…Lacustrine terrigenous layers with low organic content relative to the background have been attributed to increased sediment transport into lakes as a result of post-fire erosion (Millspaugh and Whitlock, 1995), extreme meltwater events (C. E. Briles, personal communication, 2010, Parris et al, 2010, increased runoff following severe storms (e.g. Noren et al, 2002), and increased erosion after land clearance and road building (Colombaroli and Gavin, 2010).…”

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora

“…Mean fire intervals in this type range from a low of about 70 years in productive lower elevation lodgepole pine forests in high wind environments on the east slope of the Rockies-for example, at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta; Glacier National Park, Montana; and perhaps in the Red Lodge area northeast of Yellowstone National Park. At the other extreme, mean fire intervals on unproductive sites such as the high-elevation rhyolite plateaus in Yellowstone National Park are 300 to 400 years (Millspaugh and Whitlock 1995;Romme 1982). The majority of studies in this type has found mean fire intervals between 100 and 250 years (Agee 1993;S.…”