SaLEM (v1.0) – A Soil and Landscape Evolution Model for simulation of regolith depth in periglacial environments

Abstract

Abstract.We propose the implementation of a soil and landscape evolution model (SaLEM) for the spatiotemporal investigation of soil parent material evolution following a lithologically differentiated approach. Relevant parts of the established model GOLEM have been adapted for an operational GIS tool within the open source software framework 10 SAGA, thus taking advantage of SAGA's capabilities for geomorphometric analyses. The model is driven by paleo-climatic data (temperature, precipitation) representative for periglacial areas in Northern Germany over the last 50.000 years. The initial conditions have been determined for a test site by a digital terrain model and a geological model. Weathering, erosion and transport functions are calibrated using extrinsic (climatic) and intrinsic (lithologic) parameter data. First results indicate that our differentiated SaLEM approach shows some evidence for the spatiotemporal prediction of important soil parental 15 material properties particularly its depth. Future research will focus on the validation of the results against field data, and the influence of discrete events (mass movements, floods) on soil parent material formation has to be evaluated.