First Advisor

Kelly Gleason

Date of Award

Spring 5-24-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Environmental Science and University Honors

Department

Environmental Science and Management

Language

English

Subjects

Heavy metals, atmospheric pollution, snow chemistry

DOI

10.15760/honors.1584

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenically sourced particulates are deposited from the atmosphere to landscapes via dry and wet deposition, making frozen winter snowpack a natural archive of atmospheric elemental composition. In the Western United States, wildfires are increasing in extent, duration, and severity. Severe fires remove forest canopy, impacting how atmospheric elements are dispersed and stored across snow-dominated watersheds. We evaluated concentrations of twelve elements in 397 winter snow core samples from a chronosequence of eight forests that burned with mixed severity from 2000 to 2018 in the Triple Divide region of Western Wyoming, the headwaters of the Columbia, Colorado, and Missouri Rivers. We detected the highest concentrations of Al, V, Cr As, and Pb in one fire scar south of Jackson Hole (p-values <0.05). We compared concentrations of all elements by forest structure classified into three forest types: unburned forests, burned forests, and open meadows. Concentrations of Al, Mn, Cr, Pb, V, and As in unburned forests were higher, and in some cases double that of burned forests and open meadows, (p-value < 0.05) likely due to forest canopy turbulence effects.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42190

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