Collapse and failure of ancient agricultural stone terraces: On-site geomorphic processes, pedogenic mechanisms, and soil quality

Ancient to recent-past runoff harvesting agriculture in the hyper-arid Arava Valley: OSL dating and insights

“…The simple terraces revealed in this study are structurally different from those that are prevalent across the northern and central Negev region. These terraces, characterized by multilayer staircase-shaped constructions that strengthen the structure and allow excess water to gradually cascade down (Stavi et al, 2018b, 2019), have been predominantly dated to the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods (e.g. Ashkenazi, 2007, 2013; Avni et al, 2013; Bruins, 2012; Evenari et al, 1971; Haiman, 2012; Haiman et al, 2020).…”

A model study of terraced riverbeds as novel ecosystems

“…In spite of their large extent as present legacy of human cultural landscape, most of the research concerned with terraces focused on their structure and function in relation to past cultures. Only recently has the scientific community acknowledged the importance of terraces as a human-made integrated hydro-geo-ecosystem that can provide a bundle of ecosystem services to humans in drylands, at present time and in the future 7,8 .…”

“…Terraces, along with their hydro-geo-eco legacies, are crucial components of the ecological landscape of drylands, but very little is known about the soil-vegetation feedbacks underlying hydro-geo-eco processes of terraced areas and their effect on productivity and diversity. Despite their long periods of abandonment, ancient terraces constitute a reusable landscape capital for combating desertification and mitigation of climate change by enabling local retention of water and organic matter and sustaining plant communities 8 . Restoring their function, re-designing their water-connectivity architecture, and re-managing them in accord with rainfall variability, can result in productive and resilient dryland ecosystems.…”

“…This is unlike an earlier study 20 where a distinction between short and long grazing histories was made. We have not modeled transport of soil water between the terraces as it is much slower that the transport of surface water 8 . We have not included an evaporation term in the surface-water Eq.…”

Terraced Landscapes and Hydrological-Geological Hazards: Innovative Approaches and Future Perspectives

“…Recent developments in scientific and technological research techniques have offered the possibility of increasing knowledge of the terracing-hydrogeological hazard nexus, including, for instance, advanced and detailed geomorphological analysis [8,9], and hydraulic, geotechnical, and hydrological modeling [4,[10][11][12].…”