Charred Dead Standing Tree

A charred tree truck barely standing sticks out of the ground following a forest fire in the Rax-Schneeberg region of Austria in 2021. The surface fire in this mixed beech-pine forest left several similar odd shapes standing and formed substantial amounts of pyrogenic carbon. Pyrogenic carbon can remain stable in the environment for extended periods of time and can affect biogeochemical processes in fire-affected soils by altering pH, redox conditions, and organic matter composition.