Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland
Abstract This paper assesses the contribution of historical and traditional winter grazing to long‐term land degradation in northeast Iceland. To do so, indicators of soil erosion from two contrasting historical winter grazing areas, set in a tephrochronological framework, are compared against their...
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crwiley:10.1002/gea.20006 2024-06-02T08:09:01+00:00 Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland Simpson, Ian A. Guðmundsson, Garðar Thomson, Amanda M. Cluett, Jonathan Leverhulme Trust Icelandic Research Council U.S. National Science Foundation Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.20006 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fgea.20006 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/gea.20006 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Geoarchaeology volume 19, issue 5, page 471-502 ISSN 0883-6353 1520-6548 journal-article 2004 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.20006 2024-05-03T11:37:21Z Abstract This paper assesses the contribution of historical and traditional winter grazing to long‐term land degradation in northeast Iceland. To do so, indicators of soil erosion from two contrasting historical winter grazing areas, set in a tephrochronological framework, are compared against their temporal and regional land degradation contexts. The observations made indicate distinctive and different landscape responses to historical winter grazing depending on location. In both study areas, there is an accelerated level of wind and water erosion with settlement at ca. A.D. 874 through to A.D. 1477. One of these areas had a subsequent reduction in erosion rates to considerably below the regional average, possibly as a result of adaptive land management; the second, more inherently sensitive area, is now subarctic desert. These findings confirm early land management practices as a major factor in Icelandic land degradation, they contribute to explanations of early settlement success and failure, and highlight the significance of historical approaches in addressing contemporary issues of land degradation and conservation responses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Subarctic Wiley Online Library Geoarchaeology 19 5 471 502 |
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description |
Abstract This paper assesses the contribution of historical and traditional winter grazing to long‐term land degradation in northeast Iceland. To do so, indicators of soil erosion from two contrasting historical winter grazing areas, set in a tephrochronological framework, are compared against their temporal and regional land degradation contexts. The observations made indicate distinctive and different landscape responses to historical winter grazing depending on location. In both study areas, there is an accelerated level of wind and water erosion with settlement at ca. A.D. 874 through to A.D. 1477. One of these areas had a subsequent reduction in erosion rates to considerably below the regional average, possibly as a result of adaptive land management; the second, more inherently sensitive area, is now subarctic desert. These findings confirm early land management practices as a major factor in Icelandic land degradation, they contribute to explanations of early settlement success and failure, and highlight the significance of historical approaches in addressing contemporary issues of land degradation and conservation responses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
author2 |
Leverhulme Trust Icelandic Research Council U.S. National Science Foundation Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Simpson, Ian A. Guðmundsson, Garðar Thomson, Amanda M. Cluett, Jonathan |
spellingShingle |
Simpson, Ian A. Guðmundsson, Garðar Thomson, Amanda M. Cluett, Jonathan Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
author_facet |
Simpson, Ian A. Guðmundsson, Garðar Thomson, Amanda M. Cluett, Jonathan |
author_sort |
Simpson, Ian A. |
title |
Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
title_short |
Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
title_full |
Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland |
title_sort |
assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, mývatnssveit, northeast iceland |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.20006 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fgea.20006 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/gea.20006 |
genre |
Iceland Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Iceland Subarctic |
op_source |
Geoarchaeology volume 19, issue 5, page 471-502 ISSN 0883-6353 1520-6548 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.20006 |
container_title |
Geoarchaeology |
container_volume |
19 |
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5 |
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471 |
op_container_end_page |
502 |
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1800754598702481408 |