Amazon rain-forest fires

Robert L. Sanford, Juan Saldarriaga, Kathleen E. Clark, Christopher Uhl, Rafael Herrera

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

256 Scopus citations

Abstract

Charcoal is common in the soils of mature rain forests within 75 kilometers of San Carlos de Rio Negro in the north central Amazon Basin. Carbon-14 dates of soil charcoal from this region indicate that numerous fires have occurred since the mid-Holocene epoch. Charcoal is most common in tierra firme forest Oxisols and Ultisols and less common in caatinga and igapo forest soils. Climatic changes or human activities, or both, have caused rain-forest fires.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)53-55
Number of pages3
JournalScience
Volume227
Issue number4682
DOIs
StatePublished - 1985

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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