No abstract

Farm practices in the Sneeuberg Mountains, Karoo, South Africa are examined to assess their contribution to the development of the observed gullies and badlands. Data from the literature is augmented by interviews with local farmers and measurements in the field. Changes in stocking rates, grazing systems and technological advances are assessed for their impact on soil erosion, vegetation cover and species composition. The possibility of natural and managed rehabilitation of badland areas is discussed, as are future prospects for farm management in the Sneeuberg. The findings suggest that high stock numbers and less benign management practices in the 19th century and the early 20th century underlie much of the degradation seen today.

No abstract

The goal of the research is to develop components of the method aimed at output of information on reliefforming processes from archival and current remote sensing (RS) data with the use of the latest dataprocessing technologies, inclu ding photogrammetry and geoinformation systems (GIS). The proposed components of the methods are highly informative and economically effective. The object under study is located at the border of two active tectonic structures, the South Tatar arch and Melekesskian depression in the southeastern part of the East European platform (Fig. 1). Based on the study results, it is confirmed that neotectonic movements in the area under study and its recent geodynamical setting are directly related (Fig. 5). It is demonstrated that the morphometric method can be efficiently applied to predict zones of high geodynamic activity and to determine locations of such zones.