Abstract:

Erosion which is typically the transportation of soil covering the surface via rivers and winds, is a global phenomenon resulting from thinning of land cover and aridity of soil. The best element preventing the erosion is forests. However, the most detrimental element to the forests which have vital importance in protecting the soil is forest fires. Because; the impact of the raindrops into the land is changed after forest fires, as the soil water balance deteriorates and it becomes vulnerable to the erosion. In this study, the amount of loss of sediments in the area which has become vulnerable to the erosion due to forest fire occurred at 05.08. 2013 in the part of Amanos Mountains liing within the borders of Hatay was calculated for both the erosion that have occurred before the forest fire and could possibly occur right after the fire. Thus, the impact of forest fires into the erosion was proved. To this end; digital maps belongs to the burnt forest land taken from Hatay Forestry Department, weather data, digital contour line data belonging to General Command of Mapping, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), soil map and satellite image were used. The study consists of three phases. Initially, the amount of sediments carried by the erosion occurred in the study area before the forest fire was calculated. At the second stage, the amount of sediments that could be carried by possible erosion would occur in that area that has become deprived of forest coverage due to the forest fire. RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) method was used for both phases. After analysis made, it was determined that there has been a decrease on the places with very low, low and moderate susceptibility while the places with high and very high susceptibility to the erosion in that area which has become deprived of forest coverage due to the forest fire have increased. Furthermore, it was calculated that the amount of soil carried by the erosion after the forest fire was 0-144.70 tons/ha/year while it was 0-32.57 tons/ha/year before the forest fire. It was identified that the amount carried by the erosion after the forest fire was 4.44 times higher than before. At the third stage, field work was made. During this study, it was observed that the land was under heavy destruction of erosion before the forest fire due to existing topographic and climate conditions. As it was pointed out that the loss of protective effect of forest coverage which has been completely destroyed after forest fire would further increase the erosion, it was decided that it is necessary to start forestation as soon as possible. As it is one of the empirical studies aimed at proving the impact of forest fires into the erosion, it is expected that this study would contribute to the literature.

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