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DWKraus
DWKraus
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Mount St. Helens:

Heat and fire are funny things. The closest analogy to your event is a volcanic eruption like Pompeii, Krakatoa, or Mount St. Helens.

I had the privilege of visiting Mount St. Helens very shortly after it was re-opened to the public. Superheated pyroclastic flows, raining volcanic pumice, massive volcanic ash clouds and a huge explosion leveled a big part of the mountain. For many, many miles around, it was a scene of devastation - and this was a number of years after. The nearby lake was still apparently at a boiling temperature with the heat trapped under a massive cap of trees and landslide.

Mt. St. Helens

But the Pacific northwest is a wet area, and rains were already starting to trigger small plants to grow amongst the miles and miles of knocked-down and partially charred trees.

Short-term, the local environment will look like a moonscape. The temperature of your plane of fire will determine if the area is "glassed" over, but Pompeii has some gruesome scenes where (if I recall right) the fats from someone cooked out and then glassified (is that a word?) just from the heat of the pyroclastic flows. So yes, glass (but not clean glass like you'd imagine that's easily recognizable as glass).

But this is still a fairly local event. If ANYONE in a 20 mile radius lived, then the fundamental environment in that area will recover surprisingly fast. Seeds buried in the ground could easily survive, and farmers will actually burn fields to free up minerals in plants, so the remaining soil could certainly be enriched. Soils will likely retain significant amounts of water from rain if there is rain (although erosion will certainly be an issue). Birds will fly over and poop seeds into the virgin landscape.

Here's a great time-lapse film of the area of Mount St. Helens before, during, and after. In ten years, you'll have ground cover and small trees/bushes sprouting. In 20, you'll have small trees and the landscape will look mostly normal if you don't look too closely. And the completely denuded remains of Krakatoa are today a tropical rain forest with no easy evidence of the eruption 139 years later.

Mount St. Helens:

Heat and fire are funny things. The closest analogy to your event is a volcanic eruption like Pompeii, Krakatoa, or Mount St. Helens.

I had the privilege of visiting Mount St. Helens very shortly after it was re-opened to the public. Superheated pyroclastic flows, raining volcanic pumice, massive volcanic ash clouds and a huge explosion leveled a big part of the mountain. For many, many miles around, it was a scene of devastation - and this was a number of years after. The nearby lake was still apparently at a boiling temperature with the heat trapped under a massive cap of trees and landslide.

Mt. St. Helens

But the Pacific northwest is a wet area, and rains were already starting to trigger small plants to grow amongst the miles and miles of knocked-down and partially charred trees.

Short-term, the local environment will look like a moonscape. The temperature of your plane of fire will determine if the area is "glassed" over, but Pompeii has some gruesome scenes where (if I recall right) the fats from someone cooked out and then glassified (is that a word?) just from the heat of the pyroclastic flows. So yes, glass (but not clean glass like you'd imagine that's easily recognizable as glass).

But this is still a fairly local event. If ANYONE in a 20 mile radius lived, then the fundamental environment in that area will recover surprisingly fast. Seeds buried in the ground could easily survive, and farmers will actually burn fields to free up minerals in plants, so the remaining soil could certainly be enriched. Soils will likely retain significant amounts of water from rain if there is rain (although erosion will certainly be an issue). Birds will fly over and poop seeds into the virgin landscape.

In ten years, you'll have ground cover and small trees/bushes sprouting. In 20, you'll have small trees and the landscape will look mostly normal if you don't look too closely. And the completely denuded remains of Krakatoa are today a tropical rain forest with no easy evidence of the eruption 139 years later.

Mount St. Helens:

Heat and fire are funny things. The closest analogy to your event is a volcanic eruption like Pompeii, Krakatoa, or Mount St. Helens.

I had the privilege of visiting Mount St. Helens very shortly after it was re-opened to the public. Superheated pyroclastic flows, raining volcanic pumice, massive volcanic ash clouds and a huge explosion leveled a big part of the mountain. For many, many miles around, it was a scene of devastation - and this was a number of years after. The nearby lake was still apparently at a boiling temperature with the heat trapped under a massive cap of trees and landslide.

Mt. St. Helens

But the Pacific northwest is a wet area, and rains were already starting to trigger small plants to grow amongst the miles and miles of knocked-down and partially charred trees.

Short-term, the local environment will look like a moonscape. The temperature of your plane of fire will determine if the area is "glassed" over, but Pompeii has some gruesome scenes where (if I recall right) the fats from someone cooked out and then glassified (is that a word?) just from the heat of the pyroclastic flows. So yes, glass (but not clean glass like you'd imagine that's easily recognizable as glass).

But this is still a fairly local event. If ANYONE in a 20 mile radius lived, then the fundamental environment in that area will recover surprisingly fast. Seeds buried in the ground could easily survive, and farmers will actually burn fields to free up minerals in plants, so the remaining soil could certainly be enriched. Soils will likely retain significant amounts of water from rain if there is rain (although erosion will certainly be an issue). Birds will fly over and poop seeds into the virgin landscape.

Here's a great time-lapse film of the area of Mount St. Helens before, during, and after. In ten years, you'll have ground cover and small trees/bushes sprouting. In 20, you'll have small trees and the landscape will look mostly normal if you don't look too closely. And the completely denuded remains of Krakatoa are today a tropical rain forest with no easy evidence of the eruption 139 years later.

Source Link
DWKraus
DWKraus
  • 64k
  • 4
  • 92
  • 258

Mount St. Helens:

Heat and fire are funny things. The closest analogy to your event is a volcanic eruption like Pompeii, Krakatoa, or Mount St. Helens.

I had the privilege of visiting Mount St. Helens very shortly after it was re-opened to the public. Superheated pyroclastic flows, raining volcanic pumice, massive volcanic ash clouds and a huge explosion leveled a big part of the mountain. For many, many miles around, it was a scene of devastation - and this was a number of years after. The nearby lake was still apparently at a boiling temperature with the heat trapped under a massive cap of trees and landslide.

Mt. St. Helens

But the Pacific northwest is a wet area, and rains were already starting to trigger small plants to grow amongst the miles and miles of knocked-down and partially charred trees.

Short-term, the local environment will look like a moonscape. The temperature of your plane of fire will determine if the area is "glassed" over, but Pompeii has some gruesome scenes where (if I recall right) the fats from someone cooked out and then glassified (is that a word?) just from the heat of the pyroclastic flows. So yes, glass (but not clean glass like you'd imagine that's easily recognizable as glass).

But this is still a fairly local event. If ANYONE in a 20 mile radius lived, then the fundamental environment in that area will recover surprisingly fast. Seeds buried in the ground could easily survive, and farmers will actually burn fields to free up minerals in plants, so the remaining soil could certainly be enriched. Soils will likely retain significant amounts of water from rain if there is rain (although erosion will certainly be an issue). Birds will fly over and poop seeds into the virgin landscape.

In ten years, you'll have ground cover and small trees/bushes sprouting. In 20, you'll have small trees and the landscape will look mostly normal if you don't look too closely. And the completely denuded remains of Krakatoa are today a tropical rain forest with no easy evidence of the eruption 139 years later.