Post-wildfires geological hazards are an emerging problem in many places, including areas not typically associated with these events such as the Alpine Region. Hazards connected with post-fire processes such as debris-flows and flood-type events threatens people, infrastructures, services and economical activities. Apart from a few examples, there is a lack of models available to quantify the increase in susceptibility as a result of the modification induced by the wildfires. In this work we test the application of a modified version of the RUSLE, on GIS, to quantify the post-fire erosive phenomena for a case study in the north-western Italian Alps. The results of its application, taking advantage of high-resolution rainfall series and data deriving from field surveys, highlight the marked increase (more than 20 times) in erosion rates, quantified by expressing both the EI (erodibility index), the A (monthly soil loss) and the SL (monthly sediment loss) rise. The months of April, May and June represents the larger share of the total quantities. This is a consequence of the noticeable increase of the Erodibility Index EI, which for the post-fire scenariois more than one order of magnitude higher than the pre-fire one.

Post-wildfire erosion rates and triggering of debris flows: A case study in Susa Valley (Bussoleno)

Mandrone, Giuseppe
First
;
Vacha, Damiano;Chicco, Jessica
Last
2023-01-01

Abstract

Post-wildfires geological hazards are an emerging problem in many places, including areas not typically associated with these events such as the Alpine Region. Hazards connected with post-fire processes such as debris-flows and flood-type events threatens people, infrastructures, services and economical activities. Apart from a few examples, there is a lack of models available to quantify the increase in susceptibility as a result of the modification induced by the wildfires. In this work we test the application of a modified version of the RUSLE, on GIS, to quantify the post-fire erosive phenomena for a case study in the north-western Italian Alps. The results of its application, taking advantage of high-resolution rainfall series and data deriving from field surveys, highlight the marked increase (more than 20 times) in erosion rates, quantified by expressing both the EI (erodibility index), the A (monthly soil loss) and the SL (monthly sediment loss) rise. The months of April, May and June represents the larger share of the total quantities. This is a consequence of the noticeable increase of the Erodibility Index EI, which for the post-fire scenariois more than one order of magnitude higher than the pre-fire one.
2023
8th International Conference on Debris Flow Hazard Mitigation, DFHM 2023
Torino
26-29/06/2023
415
1
4
Hazard, wildfire, debris flow, GIS, erodibility
Mandrone, Giuseppe; Vacha, Damiano; Chicco, Jessica
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1955956
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