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Erosion Modelling Indicates a Decrease in Erosion Susceptibility of Historic Ridge and Furrow Fields near Albershausen, Southern Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Schmidt

    (Institute of Geography, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
    Historic Anthropospheres Working Group, Leipzig Lab, Leipzig University, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Nik Usmar

    (Institute of Geography, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Leon Westphal

    (Institute of Geography, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Max Werner

    (Institute of Geography, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Stephan Roller

    (Institute of Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, 72070 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Reinhard Rademacher

    (County Archaeology, District Administration, 73008 Göppingen, Germany)

  • Peter Kühn

    (Research Area Geography, Soil Science and Geomorphology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, 72070 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Lukas Werther

    (Institute of Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, 72070 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Aline Kottmann

    (Archaeology, State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Wuerttemberg, 73728 Esslingen, Germany)

Abstract

Ridge and furrow fields are land-use-related surface structures that are widespread in Europe and represent a geomorphological key signature of the Anthropocene. Previous research has identified various reasons for the intentional and unintentional formation of these structures, such as the use of a mouldboard plough, soil improvement and drainage. We used GIS-based quantitative erosion modelling according to the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to calculate the erosion susceptibility of a selected study area in Southern Germany. We compared the calculated erosion susceptibility for two scenarios: (1) the present topography with ridges and furrows and (2) the smoothed topography without ridges and furrows. The ridges and furrows for the studied site reduce the erosion susceptibility by more than 50% compared to the smoothed surface. Thus, for the first time, we were able to identify lower soil erosion susceptibility as one of the possible causes for the formation of ridge and furrow fields. Finally, our communication paper points to future perspectives of quantitative analyses of historical soil erosion.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Schmidt & Nik Usmar & Leon Westphal & Max Werner & Stephan Roller & Reinhard Rademacher & Peter Kühn & Lukas Werther & Aline Kottmann, 2023. "Erosion Modelling Indicates a Decrease in Erosion Susceptibility of Historic Ridge and Furrow Fields near Albershausen, Southern Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:3:p:544-:d:1078613
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hein van Gils & T. Kasielke, 2022. "Historical parcellation and ridge-and-furrow relics of open strip-fields in the north-west European lowlands," Landscape History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 77-102, July.
    2. Mareike Ließ & Johannes Schmidt & Bruno Glaser, 2016. "Improving the Spatial Prediction of Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in a Complex Tropical Mountain Landscape by Methodological Specifications in Machine Learning Approaches," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, April.
    3. Simon Schmidt & Christine Alewell & Katrin Meusburger, 2019. "Monthly RUSLE soil erosion risk of Swiss grasslands," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 247-256, July.
    4. Niedertscheider, Maria & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Müller, Daniel & Erb, Karl-Heinz, 2014. "Exploring the effects of drastic institutional and socio-economic changes on land system dynamics in Germany between 1883 and 2007," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28, pages 98-108.
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