Civil Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 11-15-2024

Abstract

Wildfire disturbance propagation along fluvial networks remains poorly understood. We use incident, atmospheric, and water-quality data from the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history to quantify how this gigafire affected surface runoff processes and mobilized wildfire disturbances into fluvial networks after burning 1382 km2. Surface runoff post-fire increased compared to pre-fire conditions, and precipitation events that are frequently observed in the affected watershed (<2-year recurrence) and fell during the post-fire first rainy season resulted in uncorrelated, less frequently observed runoff events (10-year recurrence). Wavelet coherence analysis highlighted that water quality disturbances propagated variably along the network, even at sites located >160 km downstream of the burn perimeter. Our findings emphasize the need to incorporate spatially resolved longitudinal sampling designs into wildfire water quality research and highlight the spatiotemporal co-dependency among atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic processes and engineered structures in defining the net outcome of wildfire disturbance propagation along impacted fluvial networks.

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Civil Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Civil Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Ricardo González-Pinzón, Ph.D.

Second Committee Member

José M. Cerrato, Ph.D.

Third Committee Member

David J. Van Horn, Ph.D.

Fourth Committee Member

Peter Regier, Ph.D.

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