John Boardman
Long-term studies of land degradation in the Sneeuberg uplands, eastern Karoo, South Africa: A synthesis
Boardman, John; Foster, Ian; Rowntree, Kate; Favis-Mortlock, David; Mol, Lisa; Suich, Helen; Gaynor, D.
Authors
Ian Foster
Kate Rowntree
David Favis-Mortlock
Lisa Mol Lisa.Mol@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Geomorphology and Heritage in Conflict
Helen Suich
D. Gaynor
Abstract
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. For the past 15yr, the Sneeuberg uplands in the eastern Karoo, South Africa, have been a focus for research on land degradation by the above authors and other colleagues. Earlier work in the Karoo emphasised vegetation change whereas we concentrate on physical changes to the landscape at the small catchment scale, e.g., bare, degraded areas (badlands) and gully (donga) systems. Analysis of sedimentation in farm dams allows for reconstruction of environmental histories using 210Pb, 137Cs, geochemical and mineral magnetic properties of the sediments. Erosion rates on badlands are monitored using arrays of erosion pins. Sediment source tracing within small catchments points to the importance of hillslope sources and the relative erosional inactivity of gully systems in recent decades. Sediment supply from hillslope and colluvial sources is maintained by high rates of weathering on mudstones and sandstones. Current degradation should be viewed in the context of a c. 200yr history of overgrazing by European-style stock farming and limited areas of former cultivation in the valleys. Grazing pressures are now much reduced but the loss of soils and vegetation suggests that landscape recovery will require several decades. Additional drivers of past degradation are likely to have been periods of drought and fire (natural and managed) and a gradual increase in both rainfall intensity and the frequency of extreme rainfall events. The future of the degraded Sneeuberg landscape will depend on future farming practices. Desirable options include more sustainable livestock practices, adoption of wildlife farming and other more benign regimes involving mixes of agriculture, tourism, and wildlife protection together with landscape rehabilitation measures.
Citation
Boardman, J., Foster, I., Rowntree, K., Favis-Mortlock, D., Mol, L., Suich, H., & Gaynor, D. (2017). Long-term studies of land degradation in the Sneeuberg uplands, eastern Karoo, South Africa: A synthesis. Geomorphology, 285, 106-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.01.024
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jan 17, 2017 |
Online Publication Date | Feb 16, 2017 |
Publication Date | May 15, 2017 |
Deposit Date | Mar 8, 2017 |
Publicly Available Date | Feb 16, 2018 |
Journal | Geomorphology |
Print ISSN | 0169-555X |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 285 |
Pages | 106-120 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.01.024 |
Keywords | South Africa, weathering, sediment, land degradation |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/887690 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.01.024 |
Files
Boardman_etal_2017.pdf
(2.4 Mb)
PDF
You might also like
Surface damage from perpendicular and oblique bullet impacts in stone
(2022)
Journal Article
Mortar damage to heritage stone
(2022)
Presentation / Conference
Downloadable Citations
About UWE Bristol Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@uwe.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search