Table 6 Comparison of PCC-VC ashfall impacts to agricultural areas with existing damage state scales
Affected area | Ash thick-ness (mm) | Damage State based on thickness (Wilson et al. 2009)a | Damage state description | Damage state based on observations | Justification of assigned damage state | Damage state based on thickness (Jenkins et al. 2014) | Damage state description | Damage state based on observations | Justification of assigned damage state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nahuel Huapi National Park | 250–400 | >150mm category | New soil formation needs to occur (up to decades) | 25–150 category | Whilst ash did need to be incorporated into soil this occurred over months rather than years/decades | 5 | Major rehabilitation required/retirement of land | 2 | No land was retired and very little rehabilitation work was undertaken (due in part to it being a national park) |
Steppe Region (incl. Jacobacci) | 40–60 | 25–150 category | Up to 5 years recovery time | 25–150 category | ~ | 2–3 | Minor to major productivity loss (remediation required) | 3 | Losses were >50% across the region, however due to lack of resources very little remediation took place |