Abandoned Farms, Volcanic Impacts, and Woodland Management: Revisiting Þjórsárdalur, the "Pompeii Of Iceland"

Dugmore, Andrew; Church, Michael; Mairs, Kerry-Anne; McGovern, Thomas H.; Perdikaris, Sophia; Vésteinsson, Orri

doi:10.1353/arc.2011.0021

Cited by 46 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Dugmore. the isochronous horizons defi ned by the tephras. If tephra layers are identifi ed at a number of sites, they can be used to both defi ne isochrones and intervals of time and determine the spatial dimensions of rates of change (e.g., Dugmore and Buckland 1991;Dugmore et al 2003Dugmore et al , 2007Thorarinsson 1961). This application can allow precise 3-D reconstructions to be made.…”

Section: Approach Methods and Data Sources Tephrochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual Models of 1200 Years of Icelandic Soil Erosion Reconstructed Using Tephrochronology

Dugmore

Gísladóttir

Simpson

et al. 2009

Journal of the North Atlantic

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-With reference to 18 tephra isochrones, we present six reconstructions of landscapes in South Iceland at precise times through the last 1200 years and develop three related models of soil erosion. Before the late ninth century A.D., the landscapes of Iceland were without people and resilient to natural processes. The initial impact of human settlement in the ninth century AD was most profound in ecologically marginal areas, where major anthropogenic modifi cations of the ecology drove geomorphological change. In the uplands, overgrazing contributed to the formation of a dense patchwork of breaks in the vegetation cover where soil erosion developed and resulted in the rapid denudation of large areas. As the upland soils were shallow (generally <0.5 m), the overall impact of erosion on total aeolian sediment fl uxes before AD 1510 was modest. Later erosion of the deeper lowland soils (generally >2 m) involved a lower spatial density of eroding fronts and a slower loss of soil cover, but a much greater movement of sediment. Land-management strategies, changes in species patterns of plant communities, extreme weather events, and climate changes have combined in differing degrees to initiate and drive rates of soil erosion. Sensitivity to change and the crossing of erosion thresholds has varied through time. The record of soil erosion has major implications for both archaeology and contemporary land management.

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Section: Approach Methods and Data Sources Tephrochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual Models of 1200 Years of Icelandic Soil Erosion Reconstructed Using Tephrochronology

Dugmore

Gísladóttir

Simpson

et al. 2009

Journal of the North Atlantic

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“…In addition to adaptation that effectively harnessed wild animal resources, there is evidence for adaptative management of vegetation; in Iceland, large-scale woodland clearance progressed through the first five centuries of settlement but waned in the 14th century to be replaced by effective, long-term (>600 y) conservation of much of the remaining woodland for charcoal production (27)(28)(29). The drawdown of woodland in Iceland is mirrored by rangeland degradation, which has been extensive; some 20,000 km 2 of soil cover present before colonization have probably been eroded (30).…”

Section: Colonization Of the Atlantic Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural adaptation, compounding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland

Dugmore

McGovern

Vésteinsson

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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145

103

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Norse Greenland has been seen as a classic case of maladaptation by an inflexible temperate zone society extending into the arctic and collapse driven by climate change. This paper, however, recognizes the successful arctic adaptation achieved in Norse Greenland and argues that, although climate change had impacts, the end of Norse settlement can only be truly understood as a complex socioenvironmental system that includes local and interregional interactions operating at different geographic and temporal scales and recognizes the cultural limits to adaptation of traditional ecological knowledge. This paper is not focused on a single discovery and its implications, an approach that can encourage monocausal and environmentally deterministic emphasis to explanation, but it is the product of sustained international interdisciplinary investigations in Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic. It is based on data acquisitions, reinterpretation of established knowledge, and a somewhat different philosophical approach to the question of collapse. We argue that the Norse Greenlanders created a flexible and successful subsistence system that responded effectively to major environmental challenges but probably fell victim to a combination of conjunctures of large-scale historic processes and vulnerabilities created by their successful prior response to climate change. Their failure was an inability to anticipate an unknowable future, an inability to broaden their traditional ecological knowledge base, and a case of being too specialized, too small, and too isolated to be able to capitalize on and compete in the new protoworld system extending into the North Atlantic in the early 15th century.Vikings | marine mammals | Little Ice Age | rigidity trap

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“…Research on the Hekla eruption of 1104 AD indicates a rapid surface stabilization of areas with deep vegetation cover, due to the vegetation subsequently growing through 35 cm of tephra. Other areas, by contrast, were affected by erosion cutting into the underlying sediments and experienced prolonged phases of instability, with discrete episodes of surface transport; such processes continued until 1300 AD (Dugmore et al 2007). History thus suggests that DRR actions to produce healthy ecosystems can lessen post-eruptive tephra transport, producing fewer incidents of low air quality, less disruption, and reduced cleanup, resulting in less cost to society and better human and ecosystem health.…”

Section: Disaster Risk Reduction and Natural Hazardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In areas with prior intense land use, such as bare agricultural fields and other barren areas, plant cover remains low (\10 %) and succession proceeds at a slower pace than in areas that were covered by forests at the time of the eruption (Lindig-Cisneros et al 2006). An example of the effect of post-eruptive land use comes from Iceland (Dugmore et al 2007): After the tephra-fall from an eruption of Hekla in 1104 AD, the recovery of vegetation was reduced due to continued grazing pressure, thus limiting the natural succession of the degraded ecosystem. This geomorphic instability persisted in some areas until 1300 AD.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ecosystem approach for natural hazard mitigation of volcanic tephra in Iceland: building resilience and sustainability

Ágústsdóttir¹

2015

Nat Hazards

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Living in Iceland, a highly volcanically active island with a historical eruption frequency of 20-25 events per 100 years, involves risks from lava, pyroclastic flows, tephra-fall, and floods from glacier/snow-covered volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions can have detrimental effects on human health, societies, and ecosystems. Eruptions in 2010-2011 proved the value of pre-event planning for some natural hazards. An additional focus is needed on pre-disaster mitigation responses for the effects of tephra-fall on vegetation: As outlined under the UNISDR Hyogo/Sendai Framework for Action, healthy ecosystems and environmental management are key actions in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Iceland's most serious environmental problem is the degraded state of common rangeland in the highlands, where tephra-fall has been catastrophic. Tephra (airborne volcanic material) affects hydrology, air quality, and ecosystems by direct burial or post-eruptive transport, extending its influence far beyond the initial eruption area. Resilience to tephra-related disturbances depends on an ecosystem's overall health. Tall, vigorous vegetation has greater endurance; its initial survival is more likely, while sheltering minimizes secondary transport and hastens recovery. Areas that are sparsely vegetated and already stressed are more vulnerable; there, tephra remains unstable and can cause further damage. Reclaiming vulnerable land and building healthy ecosystems, as represented by the Hekluskógar project, improve the ability of these areas to endure tephra-fall, increasing their resilience and reducing the associated costs to society. Successful DRR for tephra-fall, through the revegetation of degraded land, will require effective governance, multi-sector coordination, and the alignment of policies on land use, agriculture, natural resource management, and climate change mitigation.

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Abandoned Farms, Volcanic Impacts, and Woodland Management: Revisiting Þjórsárdalur, the "Pompeii Of Iceland"

Cited by 46 publications

References 13 publications

Conceptual Models of 1200 Years of Icelandic Soil Erosion Reconstructed Using Tephrochronology

Conceptual Models of 1200 Years of Icelandic Soil Erosion Reconstructed Using Tephrochronology

Cultural adaptation, compounding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland

Ecosystem approach for natural hazard mitigation of volcanic tephra in Iceland: building resilience and sustainability

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