Catastrophic windthrow in the southern Appalachians: characteristics of pits and mounds and initial vegetation responses

We characterized pit and mound (PM) topography resulting from catastrophic wind in the Coweeta Basin, and located 48 PMs a across a variety of forest types. Our measurements included pit length, width, and depth; and mound height, thickness, and width. Species of fallen trees were identified, and DBH (diameter at breast height, 1.37 m) was measured for biomass determination. We identified five distinct microsites at each PM: mound face, mound top, pit bottom, pit-wall, and intact forest floor. On each microsite, we measured photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), soil temperature, and soil moisture, and took soil samples from four microsites (intact forest floor, pit wall, pit bottom, mound top) to determine carbon and nitrogen