The devastating bushfires of the 2019–20 summer are arguably the most costly natural disaster in Australian recorded history. What is little known is that these fires severely affected the temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone (THPSS), a form of upland wetland that occurs in the water supply catchments of Sydney in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and National Park. During the fires, 59% of THPSS was burnt and 72% of those by a high severity burn. Upland swamps at Newnes were the most affected, with 96% of swamps burnt and 84% of these experiencing a very high burn severity. We present an analysis of the spatial extent and severity of the bushfire on the THPSS and discuss some of the likely consequences on their geomorphological, hydrological and ecological structure, function and recovery potential.

2019-20夏季的毁灭性大火可以说是澳大利亚有史以来最昂贵的自然灾害。鲜为人知的是，这些大火严重影响了砂岩（THPSS）上的温带高原泥炭沼泽，这是一种高地湿地，发生在大蓝山世界遗产地区和国家公园的悉尼的供水地区。在大火中，有59％的THPSS被燃烧，而72％的高严重烧伤被燃烧。纽恩斯州的高地沼泽受到的影响最大，有96％的沼泽被烧毁，其中84％的烧伤严重程度很高。我们对THPSS上森林大火的空间范围和严重性进行了分析，并讨论了其地貌，水文和生态结构，功能和恢复潜力的一些可能后果。