Forest fires convert a small portion of burning vegetation into charred solid residues such as charcoal. A survey of Scandinavian forest soils reveals that charcoal has a highly patchy distribution, and a shorter-than-expected lifetime.
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Preston, C. Fire's black legacy. Nature Geosci 2, 674–675 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo642
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo642