Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape
Vegetation cover mediates a number of important geomorphological processes. However, the effect of different vegetation types on the retention of fine aeolian sediment is poorly understood. We investigated this phenomenon, using the retention of fine, pyroclastic material (tephra) from the 2011 erup...
Published in: | Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
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2016
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Online Access: | https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/vegetation-structure-influences-the-retention-of-airfall-tephra-in-a-subarctic-landscape(5793c932-cffb-460a-b331-2966a387bb6c).html https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8813/1/Cutler_et_al._2016_accepted.pdf http://ppg.sagepub.com/ |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/5793c932-cffb-460a-b331-2966a387bb6c 2023-05-15T14:24:39+02:00 Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape Cutler, Nick Bailey, Richard Hickson, Katie Streeter, Richard Thomas Dugmore, Andrew J 2016-10-17 application/pdf https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/vegetation-structure-influences-the-retention-of-airfall-tephra-in-a-subarctic-landscape(5793c932-cffb-460a-b331-2966a387bb6c).html https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8813/1/Cutler_et_al._2016_accepted.pdf http://ppg.sagepub.com/ eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Cutler , N , Bailey , R , Hickson , K , Streeter , R T & Dugmore , A J 2016 , ' Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape ' , Progress in Physical Geography , vol. 40 , no. 5 , pp. 661-675 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 Aeolian sediment Tephrochronology Iceland Photogrammetric analysis Vegetation structure article 2016 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 2022-06-02T07:45:54Z Vegetation cover mediates a number of important geomorphological processes. However, the effect of different vegetation types on the retention of fine aeolian sediment is poorly understood. We investigated this phenomenon, using the retention of fine, pyroclastic material (tephra) from the 2011 eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano, Iceland, as a case study. We set out to quantify structural variation in different vegetation types and to relate structural metrics to the thickness of recently deposited volcanic ash layers in the sedimentary section. We utilised a combination of vegetation and soil surveys, along with photogrammetric analysis of vegetation structure. We found that indices of plant community composition were a poor proxy for vegetation structure and were largely unrelated to tephra thickness. However, structural metrics, derived from photogrammetric analysis, were clearly related to variations in tephra layer thickness at a landscape scale and tephra layers under shrub patches were significantly thicker than those outside the shrub canopy. We therefore concluded that a) vegetation cover was a critical factor in the retention of fine aeolian sediment for deposit depths up to few centimetres and b) structural variation in vegetation cover played a major role in determining the configuration of tephra deposits in the sedimentary section. These findings have implications for the analysis of ancient volcanic eruptions and archaeological/palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on the interpretation of tephra deposits. Furthermore, they present the possibility that the detailed form of tephra layers may be used as a proxy for palaeo vegetation structure. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Iceland University of St Andrews: Research Portal Arctic Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 40 5 661 675 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Aeolian sediment Tephrochronology Iceland Photogrammetric analysis Vegetation structure |
spellingShingle |
Aeolian sediment Tephrochronology Iceland Photogrammetric analysis Vegetation structure Cutler, Nick Bailey, Richard Hickson, Katie Streeter, Richard Thomas Dugmore, Andrew J Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
topic_facet |
Aeolian sediment Tephrochronology Iceland Photogrammetric analysis Vegetation structure |
description |
Vegetation cover mediates a number of important geomorphological processes. However, the effect of different vegetation types on the retention of fine aeolian sediment is poorly understood. We investigated this phenomenon, using the retention of fine, pyroclastic material (tephra) from the 2011 eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano, Iceland, as a case study. We set out to quantify structural variation in different vegetation types and to relate structural metrics to the thickness of recently deposited volcanic ash layers in the sedimentary section. We utilised a combination of vegetation and soil surveys, along with photogrammetric analysis of vegetation structure. We found that indices of plant community composition were a poor proxy for vegetation structure and were largely unrelated to tephra thickness. However, structural metrics, derived from photogrammetric analysis, were clearly related to variations in tephra layer thickness at a landscape scale and tephra layers under shrub patches were significantly thicker than those outside the shrub canopy. We therefore concluded that a) vegetation cover was a critical factor in the retention of fine aeolian sediment for deposit depths up to few centimetres and b) structural variation in vegetation cover played a major role in determining the configuration of tephra deposits in the sedimentary section. These findings have implications for the analysis of ancient volcanic eruptions and archaeological/palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on the interpretation of tephra deposits. Furthermore, they present the possibility that the detailed form of tephra layers may be used as a proxy for palaeo vegetation structure. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cutler, Nick Bailey, Richard Hickson, Katie Streeter, Richard Thomas Dugmore, Andrew J |
author_facet |
Cutler, Nick Bailey, Richard Hickson, Katie Streeter, Richard Thomas Dugmore, Andrew J |
author_sort |
Cutler, Nick |
title |
Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
title_short |
Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
title_full |
Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape |
title_sort |
vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-arctic landscape |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/vegetation-structure-influences-the-retention-of-airfall-tephra-in-a-subarctic-landscape(5793c932-cffb-460a-b331-2966a387bb6c).html https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8813/1/Cutler_et_al._2016_accepted.pdf http://ppg.sagepub.com/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Iceland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Iceland |
op_source |
Cutler , N , Bailey , R , Hickson , K , Streeter , R T & Dugmore , A J 2016 , ' Vegetation structure influences the retention of airfall tephra in a sub-Arctic landscape ' , Progress in Physical Geography , vol. 40 , no. 5 , pp. 661-675 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133316650618 |
container_title |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
661 |
op_container_end_page |
675 |
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1766297084055519232 |