Mass soil movement on terraced landscapes of the Mediterranean mountain areas: a case study of the Iberian Range, Spain

Vadillo, José Arnáez; Lana-Renault, Noemí; Ruiz-Flaño, P.; Pascual, Nuria; Lasanta, T.

doi:10.18172/cig.3211

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…First, when no longer adequately maintained, terraced slopes can become very hazardous environments. In literature, this negative trend was extensively documented in various Mediterranean terraced areas, where many researchers observed that hydrological and geomorphic processes are favoured by land abandonment and that these phenomena contribute to soil depletion issues (Arnáez et al, ; Arnáez, Lana‐Renault, Ruiz‐Flaño, Pascual, & Lasanta, ; Freppaz et al, ; García‐Ruiz & Lana‐Renault, ; Koulouri & Giourga, ; Lasanta et al, ; Lesschen et al, ; Stanchi, Freppaz, Agnelli, Reinsch, & Zanini, ). On the other hand, as observed in other environments (Cammeraat, van Beek, & Kooijman, ; Latocha, ), increasing time since abandonment the beneficial effect of vegetation cover becomes increasingly effective in preventing erosion and landsliding.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Hillslope degradation in representative Italian areas: Just soil erosion risk or opportunity for development?

et al. 2018

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In recent years, much research have dealt with the impact of human and climate change on the morpho-evolution of Mediterranean catchments characterized by high ecological and cultural value. In this paper, we speculated how humans can influence hillslope degradation by reviewing the relationships between denudation processes and land use changes in some representative areas located in different Italian regions (i.e., Liguria, Tuscany, Basilicata, and Sicily). The selected study cases are characterized by different climatic and geological features, land use, and land management and can be considered indicative of the hillslope degradation issues that affected the Apennines during the last century. We compared and discussed the main outcomes from previous studies, with the aim of identifying the main drivers leading to hillslope degradation and to shed light on the role of human action. We revealed that hillslope degradation can be mainly related to deforestation for land reclamation, cropland abandonment, and the increase of hazardous rainfall. Moreover, we focused on how human impact can have both positive and negative feedbacks. In some cases (e.g., badlands), the land levelling has produced an initial inhibition of land degradation, whereas after intensive agricultural practices, accelerated soil depletion has occurred, favouring erosion processes. Analogously, terracing controlled erosion as long as the entire terrace system was maintained, but abandoned terraced slopes can increase the magnitude of geo-hydrological phenomena in response to high-intensity rainfall.On-the-other-hand, both rural landscape and related erosional landforms can be appreciated as elements of landscape diversity and contribute to tourism development.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Hillslope degradation in representative Italian areas: Just soil erosion risk or opportunity for development?

et al. 2018

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“…Arnaéz et al . (in press) have verified in the Iberian system (Spain) that the abandoned terraces provide abundant sediments to the channels, because their abandonment implies changes in the distribution of the saturated areas and the drainage networks, and the possibility that small mass movements are activated. They calculate that more than 50% of the walls of the terraces have been mobilised either by landslides or by stone falls, with important volumes of material mobilised.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional Agrarian Landscape in the Mediterranean Mountains. A Regional and Local Factor Analysis in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

2017

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Development of rural areas needs information about sustainable use of the land. The main objective of this research is to study the spatial distribution pattern of different field types in the traditional agricultural landscape in the Central Spanish Pyrenees (flat fields, four different terrace fields, sloping field and shifting agriculture) related to different geoecological variables: slope, exposition, altitude, distance to the villages, rainfall (intensity and volume), lithology and demographic pressure. Agricultural land patterns were mapped in five valleys in the Central Pyrenees from aerial photographs (1957). These maps were digitised and implemented in a Geographic Information System on a scale 1:50,000. We determined the influence of different geoecological variables in the spatial distribution of land agricultural patterns at local and regional valley using statistical analysis. The results showed that the agricultural area occupied a large extension, despite physical environment limitations, extending even in marginal slopes, with little agricultural skills, creating a complex landscape with different field patterns. At the local scale (valley), slope and distance are the more influence variables to explain the spatial distribution of the different field types. At the regional scale, in the Western valleys, sloping fields and shifting agriculture predominate, while terraces dominate in the Eastern valleys. Distance to the village and rainfall intensity is the more determinant factors in the spatial distribution. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…The effects of farmland abandonment on terraced landscapes are manifold, because these areas have been conditioned by disturbances in topography and soil characteristics (Seeger and Ries, 2008) established during terrace construction. In addition to the recovery of vegetation, the lack of maintenance resulting from farmland abandonment may cause failures in the terrace risers, often followed by small mass movements and gullying (Lesschen et al, 2008;Solé-Benet et al, 2010;Arnáez et al, 2015Arnáez et al, , 2017, resulting in new sediment sources on the hillslopes. The off-site effects of these phenomena, which depend on the spatial distribution of sediment sources, water transfer paths and local sinks, are still unclear, due in part to the lack of studies that have investigated the hydrology of abandoned terraced landscapes, especially at the catchment scale.…”

Section: P a P E R A C C E P T E D P R E -P R I N T V E R S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catchment based hydrology under post farmland abandonment scenarios

Lana-Renault

López‐Vicente

Nadal‐Romero

et al. 2018

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ABSTRACT. Vegetation expansion following farmland abandonment is a complex process that depends on multiple natural and human-induced factors, resulting in differences in the evolution of land cover on former cultivated fields, with various environmental implications. To assess the complexity of the hydrogeomorphological consequences of farmland abandonment, the Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC) and the University of La P A P E R A C C E P T E D . P R E -P R I N T V E R S I O N

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Mass soil movement on terraced landscapes of the Mediterranean mountain areas: a case study of the Iberian Range, Spain

Abstract: ABSTRACT. Terraces represent one of the most common agricultural landscapes

Cited by 14 publications

References 37 publications

Hillslope degradation in representative Italian areas: Just soil erosion risk or opportunity for development?

Hillslope degradation in representative Italian areas: Just soil erosion risk or opportunity for development?

Traditional Agrarian Landscape in the Mediterranean Mountains. A Regional and Local Factor Analysis in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Catchment based hydrology under post farmland abandonment scenarios

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