High resolution gully erosion and sedimentation processes, and land use changes since the Bronze Age and future trajectories in the Kazimierz Dolny area (Nałęczów Plateau, SE-Poland)

Abstract This paper presents the results of 40 years of research on the gully system in the Doly Podmularskie catchment (0.35 km² in size), which is situated in the south-western part of the loess-covered Naleczow Plateau in SE-Poland. Topographic, stratigraphic and pedologic investigations, and monitoring of a tributary gully (gully area: 0.7 ha, catchment: 2.5 ha) were combined with historical, archaeological and palaeoecological records. The results reveal a long and complex history in terms of the temporal and spatial extent and the impact of land use on gully erosion, and the long-term feed-back mechanisms between land use changes and natural processes since the end of the Pleistocene.…

Soil charcoal analysis: a tool to investigate non-linear abrupt changes in ecosystems