Rehn, Emma, Cadd, Haidee, Mooney, Scott, Cohen, Tim, Munack, Henry, Codilean, Alexandru, Adeleye, Matthew, Beck, Kristen K., Constantine, Mark IV, Gouramanis, Chris, Hanson, Johanna M., Jones, Penelope J., Kershaw, A. Peter, Mackenzie, Lydia, Maisie, Maame, Mariani, Michela, Matley, Kia, McWethy, David, Mills, Keely, Moss, Patrick, Patton, Nicholas R., Rowe, Cassandra, Stevenson, Janelle, Tibby, John, and Wilmshurst, Janet (2025) The SahulCHAR collection: a palaeofire database for Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand. Earth System Science Data, 17 (6). pp. 2681-2692.

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Abstract

Recent global fire activity has highlighted the importance of understanding fire dynamics across time and space, with records of past fire (palaeofire) providing valuable insights to inform us on current and future management challenges. New records from the recent increase in palaeofire studies from Australia and surrounds have not been captured in any database for broader comparisons, and Australasia is poorly represented in current international databases used for global modelling of palaeofire trends. These problems are addressed by SahulCHAR, a new collection of sedimentary charcoal and black carbon records from Sahul (Australia, New Guinea, and offshore islands) and Aotearoa / New Zealand. Data are stored in the OCTOPUS relational database platform, with a structure designed for compatibility with the existing Global Paleofire Database. Metadata are captured at the site level and observation level, with observations including age determinations and charcoal or black carbon data. SahulCHAR version 1 contains 687 records of charcoal or black carbon, including digitized data, unchanged and modified records from the Global Paleofire Database, and original author-submitted data. SahulCHAR is a much-needed update to past regional palaeofire compilations that will also provide greater representation of records from Sahul and Aotearoa / New Zealand in future global syntheses.

Item ID:	85925
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1866-3516
Copyright Information:	© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Funders:	ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage
Research Data:	https://doi.org/10.25900/KKDX-XH23
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2025 00:05
FoR Codes:	37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience > 370905 Quaternary environments @ 90% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4102 Ecological applications > 410205 Fire ecology @ 10%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences @ 100%
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