During the last decades, increasing human influence on the environment has determined strong impacts on soils. Although the effects of global soil change are currently quantified, to study and ...understand how and at which intensity soils are modified by human activity is of capital importance in order to effectively manage the changing ecosystems. One of the most important man-induced land transformations since many centuries is the terraced landform, an agricultural technique that characterizes many agro-ecosystems all over the world. In this study, our objectives were: i) to assess and compare the morphology and the physical-chemical-biological soil parameters of 'natural' and terraced soils; ii) to identify new forms and processes of anthropedogenesis in relation to chronological scales of human action operating within the natural pedogenesis time scales; iii) to use the existing taxonomic models for the classification of the terraced soils investigate
One of the most important man-induced land transformations since many centuries is the terraced landform, an agricultural technique that characterizes many agroecosystems all over the world. In this ...study, our objectives were: i) to evaluate the background level of heavy metals in soils of a terraced ecosystem in the proximity of the Dolomites Natural Park, in northern Italy; ii) to ascertain the metal concentration range and spatial distribution; iii) to identify possible contamination of some sites, and the related environmental hazard.
Six different terraced landforms were selected; totally, 32 representative soil profiles were opened and sampled. Specific analyses of 15 potentially harmful trace elements (Sb, As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, Cu, Se, Sn, Tl, V and Zn) were carried out in the laboratory by ICPMS after digestion with aqua regia.
Background levels of heavy metals in the soils investigated are consistent with currently recorded trace element concentrations of soils from Western Europe. A geological matrix effect may be accounted for metal release by parent material weathering. Nevertheless, metal accumulation in surface horizons at some sites has been recorded, and may be ascribed to atmospheric input. The extreme parts of the territory investigated, moreover, present significant concentrations of some metals. In particular, Cu, Pb and Zn contents in surface horizons suggest an anthropogenic enrichment. The human contribution could be due to past mine activities in the close vicinity, and metals have been probably vehicled southward through stream and/or wind transport. Moreover, Sn shows amounts overall above the allowed legislation threshold. In some cases it was not possible to assess if the presence, or the concentration level, of a metal could be related to natural sources or to recent, or past, human activities.
•Evaluate background level of heavy metals in Dolomites natural park.•Ascertain metal concentration ranges and spatial distribution.•Identify possible contaminated sites.•Evaluate environmental hazard.
This article describes an experience of geographic filmmaking carried out within a long-term research process (2000-2012) involving the terraced landscape of the Brenta Valley in the Italian Alps. ...The documentary Piccola terra Small land (2012) was co-produced by geographers and professional directors. Engaging in the recent debate on filmic geographies, the aim of this article is to discuss and show what makes a film 'geographic'. The geographer authored a filmic interpretation of landscape which is spatially and temporally complex, open and mobile, anchored to material features and to personal stories and socio-economic contexts. Produced to support a campaign for the adoption of abandoned terraces by 'new farmers', the documentary Piccola terra serves as a means to engage society and produce landscape change. Geographic filmmaking as an action-, public- and social-oriented activity is discussed with reference to the so-called 'impact agenda'. We propose a style of active engagement through filmmaking which is workable, rather than critical. In order to avoid purely auto-reflective, auto-referential academic speculation on doing filmic and public geographies, this paper, which ideally is read along with viewing of the documentary, materially enters the researched/filmed landscape, developing into a supplementary tool for the international dissemination of Piccola terra.
The analysis of terraced heritage has implications in many different fields of study, as it is shaped itself by natural, socioeconomic, and cultural dynamics. Given that their abandonment ...impoverishes territories and communities and raises natural, especially hydrogeological hazards, and that their deactivation leads to a loss of cultural identity, this paper aims to study rapid mapping systems for their detection. Since a deep relation between high land division and the use of terraces for the exploitation of territories has been recognized, a first detection method is based on cadastral maps. The joint use of regional-scale digital elevation models (DEMs) and cadastral dataset polygons, based on a model that typically uses GIS analyses, identifies areas with a high probability of terracing. A second method is based on the use of new technologies for very high-scale data collection. The DEM models derived from UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) photogrammetry, given their ability to determine the micro-topographical characterization of the terrain as well as the most expensive on-site techniques, can be considered an excellent low-cost means by which to locate terraced heritage. The proposed work includes comparative testing between methods implying GIS-based analysis of slope models. It aims to highlight the effectiveness of using both methods: regional-scale DEMs and cadastral maps to detect a high probability of terrace localization, and DEMs derived from the use of low-altitude aerial data and structure from motion (SfM) algorithms, which have greatly and effectively increased the use of aerial drone photogrammetry.
The terraced landscape in the Brkini hills Ažman Momirski, Lučka; Kladnik, Drago
Acta geographica Slovenica : Geografski zbornik,
01/2015, Letnik:
55, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This article presents cultivated terraces as social and economic landscape elements that are closely connected with natural conditions. The theoretical part, which presents some of the professional ...activities connected with terraced landscapes and examples of studying them around the globe, is followed by a detailed presentation of the features of the unique terraced landscape in the Brkini Hills, Slovenia. Its features, changes, and development trends are placed within the context of the natural features of the area studied, especially its relief conditions and aspect, as well as unfavorable demographic characteristics and modern agricultural trends. Despite modern mechanized farming, the remaining farmers are finding it increasingly more difficult to maintain the cultural landscape. The former tilled terraces were converted into meadows decades ago. Many terraces are being overgrown. Afforestation threatens the future existence of cultural landscapes and affects their development potential and significance as a cultural value.
Slovenia is a country of exceptionally diverse landscapes at the intersection of four major European macroregions: the Alpine, Pannonian, Dinaric, and Mediterranean regions. Terraces, which are a ...characteristic Mediterranean landscape element, occur in all landscape types, but they vary in terms of density, purpose, and current function. Terraces, which define the most characteristic terraced landscape, are most common in the Mediterranean environment. However, they are also common in Karst-Dinaric landscapes and the wine-growing Pannonian hills, but are more unusual in mountainous Alpine regions, where they occur especially in transition areas to Mediterranean landscapes. Different types of terraces are defined by their purposes: agricultural, viticultural, and fruit-growing. The first type is found across Slovenia, whereas the second and third types are found in hills with favorable climates for cultivating grapes and fruit trees. Agricultural terraces are older; with the declining role of agriculture, increased social mobility, and an ageing and insufficient agricultural workforce, these terraces have lost their former role and their former fields are now almost entirely replaced by meadows. With the exception of the Mediterranean region and some of the Dinaric regions, wine-growing terraces and the less common fruit-growing terraces are the product of modern, mechanized farming, and a different understanding of the quality of vineyard production. This requires greater separation between rows to allow the use of farm machinery between grapevines set further apart.
It was identified terraced land use change and analyzed the relationship with irrigation management systems in a terraced paddy landscape in Hokudan-cho, Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, Central ...Japan. As the result, the land use change from 1963 to 2000 was dominated by the decrease of paddy field into other utilizations. It became clear that the social factors which cannot be seen directly in the field induced influences on the pattern of landscape change and the land management in the two types of irrigation system. Customary social rules which contained in Tazu system were strongly contributed to the sustainability of the paddy fields.
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