Journal article
Quantifying the impact of fire events on dust emission potential from partially vegetated dunes in the southwest Kalahari
- Abstract:
- The removal of stabilising vegetation from sand dunes by fire has been widely linked to increases in aeolian sediment transport and dune movement. However, substantial gaps exist in our knowledge of whether burned dunes in arid environments have the potential to emit dust. To explore relationships between fire and dust emission on partially vegetated sand dunes in the Namibian Kalahari Desert, 180 measurements of wind erosion threshold and dust flux were carried out using a portable wind tunnel (Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory or PI-SWERL). Data were analysed to compare erosion thresholds and dust emission flux on adjacent burned and unburned sites. The data suggest that both burned and unburned dune crests, flanks, and interdunes have a low potential for dust emission. Whilst there was no significant difference in dust emission flux between burned and unburned control surfaces (Kruskal-Wallis, p > 0.05), there was evidence of significantly higher erosion thresholds on burned surfaces (T-test, p < 0.01). Where the surface had been disturbed, resulting in the removal of the typically present biological soil crusts (biocrust), our data suggest that dust emission fluxes are, on average, 8-13 times higher those of undisturbed surfaces. The analysis reveals that even when burned and devoid of vegetation, the Kalahari linear dune system is sediment-availability limited. This finding indicates the importance of ground surface characteristics, such as biocrusts, in preventing dust emission from the Kalahari dune field.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 1.7MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1016/j.aeolia.2025.101012
Authors
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Journal:
- Aeolian Research More from this journal
- Volume:
- 74
- Article number:
- 101012
- Publication date:
- 2025-11-23
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-11-17
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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1875-9637
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2329462
- Local pid:
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pubs:2329462
- Deposit date:
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2025-11-19
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Elsevier B.V.
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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