Agriculture fields landscape arch render drivers#
These two drivers have encouraged the restructuring agricultural surfaces on hillslopes of Mediterranean Europe, through the creation of terraces to favor the mechanization ( Martínez-Casasnovas et al., 2010a).
The agricultural areas of Europe have undergone significant changes since the advent of mechanization and the establishment of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP, Commission Regulation EC no. According to Montgomery (2007), cultivated fields can erode at rates typical of mountainous Alpine terrains. Agriculture probably represents one of the major topographic forcing in these environments. Many hillslopes have been modified over the years by human activities, with direct consequences on Earth surface processes ( Tarolli and Sofia, 2016 Brown et al., 2017). Paolo Tarolli, Giulia Sofia, in Developments in Earth Surface Processes, 2020 1 Introduction The result was a gradual increase in soil erosion and landslide risk with direct consequences for people when these processes are triggered in densely populated areas ( Fig. Land abandonment, which affected several regions of the world during the last half-past century has resulted in a progressive increase of land degradation expecially in agricultural terraced landscapes. Agricultural roads also serve terraces, and the construction of these anthropogenic features can have deep effects on water flows and surface erosion ( Tarolli et al., 2015). Poorly designed and maintained terraces represent significant sediment sources due to terraces collapsing ( Brandolini et al., 2017). The ancient terraces are often of the bench type with stone walls and require maintenance. However agricultural terracing introduced several critical issues: increase of slope failures, and hydraulic erosion processes with consequences on the loss of nutrients and in the redistribution of chemicals.
Looking at these landscapes, it is clear that agricultural terraces are an integral part of the geomorphology of a region, where the geomorphic features reflect not only tectonic uplift or climate but also human forcing. Since ancient times, it is possible to find terraces in different topographic conditions (e.g., hilly, steep slope mountain landscapes) as they are used for various crops (e.g., rice, maize, millet, wheat). In Asia, terracing is a widespread agricultural practice. In the Middle East, thousands of dry stone terrace walls were constructed in the dry valleys by past societies to capture runoff and floodwaters from local rainfall to enable agriculture in the desert ( Ore and Bruins, 2012). Pre-Columbian and current indigenous population developed terraces and irrigation systems to manage the adverse environment better ( Williams, 2002). In the arid landscape of South America, terrace construction and irrigation techniques used by the Incas are still in use today. However, one can find ancient terraces also in the Americas, Middle-East, and East Asia. In all Mediterranean basins, terraced landscapes are considered to be among the most important and characteristic anthropological imprints on the relief ( Dunjó et al., 2003 Trischitta, 2005), and they symbolize an important European cultural heritage ( Varotto, 2008 Arnáez et al., 2011). In some areas, terraced landscapes can be considered a historical heritage and a cultural ecosystem service. In few regions, terrace construction and irrigation techniques used in the past continue to be effectively utilized today. (A) Well-maintained terrace system for citrus cultivation in Valencia (Spain) (B) terrace failures ( white arrow) due to land abandonment in Corniglia, Cinque Terre (Liguria, Italy). Agricultural terraces in Spain and Italy.
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