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Historical aspects of soil erosion in the Mejerda catchment, Tunisia

In English

Författare

Summary, in English

Agricultural use and related water erosion leads to significant changes in the sedimentological and hydrological characteristics of watersheds and thus means negative consequences for rural development. This research work aimed at putting present-day soil erosion of the important Mejerda catchment in to a historical context. The catchment of wadi Mejerda in northern Tunisia has experienced soil erosion due to weather and human impact during thousands of years. We used historical texts and results from archeological research that go back to 1000 B.C. as well as data collected during the last century. Soil erosion from different types of agricultural landscape management was analyzed together with information on the soils’ production potential, hydrographical network, and flood frequency. The results showed that water erosion has increased the hydrographic network by 65 km and increased the deltaic plain as much as 15 km2/century. The soil productivity has, however, also decreased significantly. Moreover, due to river choking, the number of overflowing occurrences has multiplied over the last century. Finally, it is shown that water erosion follows a specific cycle of degradation throughout the watershed. These findings could be considered for better water and soil management in the context of semiarid areas.

Publiceringsår

2012

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

901-912

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Hydrological Sciences Journal

Volym

57

Issue

5

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Taylor & Francis

Ämne

  • Water Engineering
  • Other Social Sciences

Nyckelord

  • Agricultural landscape
  • Deltaic plain
  • Farmland management
  • Historical background
  • Hydrographical network
  • Mejerda wadi
  • Semi-arid
  • Temporal degradation pattern
  • Tunisia
  • Water erosion

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 0262-6667