Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces in arid southern Peru

Londoño, Ana C.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.09.014

Cited by 31 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Erosion problems have always been a feature of cultivated hillslopes (Londoño, 2008), but the problems have been made more acute by the abandonment of cultivated fields. Landslides in terraced areas are a result of hydrological changes produced by human intervention on hillslopes during cultivation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land abandonment, landscape evolution, and soil erosion in a Spanish Mediterranean mountain region: The case of Camero Viejo

Vadillo¹,

Lasanta²,

Errea³

et al. 2010

Land Degrad Dev

166

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The Spanish Mediterranean mountains have played an important social and economic role for many centuries. However, since the 1950s these regions have been considered of little economic interest, and this has led to the abandonment of villages, reduced productive activity, and significant changes in the landscape. In the last 50 years the Camero Viejo region (Iberian System, northeast Spain) has been subject to these changes, and was selected as our study area. Landscape evolution and soil erosion, as a result of agricultural abandonment, were studied using different analysis techniques: photointerpretation, geographic information systems and rainfall simulation. The results showed that a large proportion of previously cultivated land has been subject to plant recolonization processes. From 1956 to 2001, woodlands area increased from 10Á1 per cent to 37 per cent, and scrubland increased from 42 per cent to 60 per cent. Changes in landscape structure in the same period suggest that the Camero Viejo is in a transitional stage from a highly humanized landscape to a more natural landscape. Although plant cover expansion is evident on most Camero Viejo hillslopes, in some terraced areas erosion processes are active. The generalized abandonment of agricultural terraces has favored the collapse of the stone walls of the terraces, with sliding of the soil. Surface runoff on abandoned terraces is also important. These erosion processes are related to the hydrological functioning of slopes following abandonment, neglect, and in some areas the intensification of grazing. Terrace destruction has a negative impact on the landscape and represents the loss of fertile soils. Landscape diversity should be preserved as an essential element of the economic potential of the Camero Viejo.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land abandonment, landscape evolution, and soil erosion in a Spanish Mediterranean mountain region: The case of Camero Viejo

Vadillo¹,

Lasanta²,

Errea³

et al. 2010

Land Degrad Dev

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Included in this group is a South American sample from San Pedro de Atacama (Neves et al, 1999), two Baltic groups (Djuric et al, 2006;Slaus et al, 2012), a medieval British group (Judd & Roberts, 1999), a Bronze Age Thai sample (Domett & Tayles, 2006), and an African sample from Kulubnarti, Sudan (Kilgore et al, 1997). The occupants of San Pedro de Atacama raised alpacas and llamas, and developed the agricultural potential of this high desert environment using irrigation, lithic mulching to prevent erosion, and terracing (Lightfoot, 1994;Londono, 2008;Rivera, 1991). Medieval agriculture in the Balkans included the use of hand plows and, later, ox driven plows in the production of cereals, olives, grapes, and other cultigens alongside sheep, goat, horse, and cattle herding (Djuric et al, 2006;Slaus et al, 2012).…”

Section: The Global Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic injury risk and agricultural transitions: A view from the American Southeast and beyond

Lambert

Welker

2016

American J Phys Anthropol

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The results of this study support the hypothesis that, with respect to traumatic injury risk, low-intensity farming is a risk-averse subsistence strategy in comparison with full-time foraging or high-intensity agriculture. These data suggest that it is not agriculture per se that predicts an increase in this health risk, but rather the mode and intensity of agricultural production, findings that have important ramifications for our understanding of the health consequences of major subsistence transitions.

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“…Sediment storage achieved by terraces is revealed by post-abandonment sediment remobilized by extensive gullying and tread failure (Londoño, 2008) as well as retaining wall collapse (Inbar and Llerena, 2000). In arid southern Peru, net denudation of terrace surfaces has been measured at 0.094 mm/a (Londoño, 2008) indicating a potential sediment source for future debris flows. Reactivation of terraced slopes may actually represent an increase in mass wasting relative to unaltered slopes because of disturbed nature of the terrain (Wolman, 1967).…”

Section: Pre-colonial Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culture and landslide risk in the Central Andes of Bolivia and Peru

Roberts¹

2009

Studia UBB, Geologia

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ABSTRACT. Culture and its heritage play a major role in determining landslide risk in the Central Andes. Examples of some of these many possible influences are provided from natural and social science literature and from the author's recent work in Bolivia. Landslide risk appears to have generally increased throughout the last millennium, due largely to anthropogenic modification of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity. These changes result from both local and distant pressures and from contemporaneous and pervious cultural factors. Consequently, holistic examination of landslide risk necessitates consideration of culture and its heritage.

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Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces in arid southern Peru

Cited by 31 publications

References 21 publications

Land abandonment, landscape evolution, and soil erosion in a Spanish Mediterranean mountain region: The case of Camero Viejo

Land abandonment, landscape evolution, and soil erosion in a Spanish Mediterranean mountain region: The case of Camero Viejo

Traumatic injury risk and agricultural transitions: A view from the American Southeast and beyond

Culture and landslide risk in the Central Andes of Bolivia and Peru

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