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Nutrient-rich patches occur around grass tussocks, logs and trees in semi -arid landscapes. Landscape patterns and processes associated with such nutrient patches can influence lateral water movement but it is not known to what extent lateral flow in turn affects soil nutrient transfers. Large -scale disturbances, such as fire, occur frequently in the arid zone of Australia and can alter the landscape by removing obstacles that might otherwise promote accretion of organic matter owing to lateral movement of water. We examined lateral movement of nutrients through the soil in a recently burnt and unburned spinifex (Triodia sp.) community in the semi -arid Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. Nutrient treatments were applied to individual 1m2 sub -plots in burnt and unburned areas in order to examine nutrient movement over time. At 3 and 8 months after application, there was no significant transfer of P outside of the application plots and no significant difference between burnt and unburned sites. However, after 11 months, P transfers to at least 10 cm outside of the plots were discernible. Lateral movement of P was significant only in burnt areas, although trends were similar in both burnt and unburned plots, i.e. CV was greater in unburned plots. Nutrient transfer is an extremely slow process and is likely to be highly

dependent on frequency and intensity of rainfall, as well as soil characteristics.