Abstract:
Wildfires often aggravate hillslope erosion and induce post-fire debris flow. The conventional methods for predicting hillslope erosion are not applicable to burned areas, which could cause insufficient effectiveness of the emergency response and serious secondary harm to local residents. On 11 April 2023, a devastating wildfire destroyed over 6000 ha of forest in Yuxi City, Yunnan. Considering that the climate, topography, bedrock, overburden and vegetation type of the Yuxi burned area are consistent with the "3.30" wildfire burned area in Xichang in 2020, this paper used the empirical model derived from Xichang to predict the dynamic reserves of hillslope erosion materials mobilized by post-fire debris flows in the study area. Results show that the mean hillslope erosion depth within 1 year after the wildfire in the unburned area, low, moderate, and high severity is 3.67 mm, 6.08 mm, 7.92 mm, and 9.67 mm, respectively, with an average value of 5.95 mm for the entire study area. A total volume of 18.85×10
4 m
3 hillslope erosion materials might be mobilized by debris flows in the study area within a year after the wildfire. In addition, the rate of the hillslope erosion peaks in the first rainstorm after the wildfire, and then decreases with the increase of the antecedent cumulative rainfall erosivity. The results can provide guidance for post-fire emergency response in the burned areas.