Quantifying prehistoric soil erosion—A review of soil loss methods and their application to a Celtic square enclosure (Viereckschanze) in Southern Germany

Abstract

This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of three different methods for quantifying prehistoric soil erosion. Method A estimates erosion by determining the amount of colluvium stored downhill. Method B involves reconstructing a former erosion surface using truncated soil horizons. Method C compares the elevation of a paleosol beneath an earthwork with the modern surface in the surrounding area. Each method was applied to a Celtic earthwork (Viereckschanze) at Poign (near Regensburg) in Southern Germany in order to cross-check the different results. For an erosion area of 3.6 ha and during 300 years of agricultural usage, Method A calculates a minimum erosion rate of 20.8 t/ha/a. Method B computes 10 t/ha/a of soil loss. Method C yields the highest rate of erosion with 24.2 t/ha/a. We have confidence in Method C, which implies an underassesment of soil loss in using methods A or B.

Climate and long-term human impact on sediment fluxes in watershed systems

“…In particular, the fragmentary preservation of sedimentary archives, multiple reworking, difficulties in the construction of accurate chronologies of sediment transfer, and a decrease of information about human activities the further back in time we go challenge the construction of long-term sediment budgets (cf., Houben et al, 2006;Brown et al, 2009-this volume). Nevertheless, European authors increasingly take advantage of the sediment budget concept to trace longer-term human impact on watershed systems (e.g., Preston and Dikau, 2004;Rommens et al, 2005Rommens et al, , 2006Leopold and Völkel, 2007). Verstraeten et al (2009-this volume) present one of the first temporally resolved budget studies that specify spatiotemporal changes in rates of sediment propagation in the Nethen catchment (Belgium) for the past 2500 years.…”

The history of soil erosion and fluvial deposits in small catchments of central Europe: Deciphering the long-term interaction between humans and the environment — A review

“…In small catchments different methods are common: (i) determining the amount of sediments (or sediment sequences) stored on the slopes and in the valleys, (ii) reconstructing a former erosion surface using truncated soil horizons or gully edges, (iii) comparing the elevation of an undisturbed palaeosoil beneath an historical construction (e.g. earthwork) with the modern surface in the surrounding area (see also Leopold and Völkel, 2007b). For river valleys cross-section analyses and values of sediment delivery were used (Houben et al, 2006;Hoffmann et al, 2007) as well as in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides (Schaller et al, 2001).…”

Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to the study of long‐term soil degradation: A case study from Schleswig‐Holstein, Germany

“…Machann and Semmel, 1970;Hard, 1976;Bork and Rohdenburg, 1979;Bork, 1983;Bork et al, 1998Lang et al, 2003a;Bork, 2006;Leopold and Völkel, 2007;Reiss et al, 2008). Recently the system of four-dimensional landscape analysis (identification of key catchments and geoarchives, detailed field investigations, sampling and dating, formulation of stratigraphy) has been developed to investigate past soil degradation and its causes in detail.…”